Lost And Still Missing
by NutsAndBees
Summary: "Because when a guy does something stupid once, well, that's because he's a guy. But when he does the same stupid thing twice... that's usually to impress some girl."
1. Curtain-Raiser

The thumping sound of light footsteps could be heard, making their way quickly down the flight of stairs in a certain household.

The footsteps belonged to a particular young boy, who raced and rushed from one side to the other, fixing his dark brown hair with his hands as he searched hastily on each nook and cranny for his belongings. His dark chocolate-brown eyes darting to and fro, eyeing each item in front of him.

"Mooom! Have you seen my backpack?" he then called out after seemingly running around for thirty minutes.

Sitting at the dining table, a fairly middle-aged woman holding a coffee mug replied, "Last time I checked, you left it in your room, and I have nothing else to do with it!" She told him with a rueful yet bemused sigh, stirring her drink.

"I already checked my room a hundred times!" Ted groaned, raising his face to the ceiling.

"Try checking again, sweetie," his mom prompted before taking a sip.

Ted let out a loud, tired sigh before starting off to head back up to his room again.

"Alright fin-aH!?" the young boy exclaimed, jumping back in shock due to the fact that a certain sneaky old lady was now standing right in front of him.

She chuckled and held out a black rucksack with both her hands in front of her, "Looking for this, dearie?"

Ted was rubbing his chest with his hand, trying to calm down his heart, "Oh. Grammy... Shoulda known it was you," he said in a slightly exasperated voice. He never could really get used to his Grammy's sudden pop-ups. He then took the rucksack from her hands, mustering up a small yet questioning smile, "Um, thanks?"

His smile shifted however when he noticed that his bag felt somehow heavier. He opened it up to check what was inside and took out a bag of marshmallows that hadn't been there before. He glanced back at her with the same questioning appearance.

She chuckled again and replied, "Well, you're going to see him again after all this time aren't you, why not bring a housewarming gift while you're at it?"

"Heh. Yeah, thanks Grammy," he said as he returned the pack of marshmallows into his bag, zipping it and slinging it on his back.

"Well, I'll be heading out now, bye Mom, bye Grammy, catch you all later!" Ted declared as he raced out the door and hopped onto his scooter, driving out into the streets.

His Grammy walked out to the doorway, waving goodbye to her grandson, and she looked on as he sped through the streets, greeting everyone that he met along the way. And when he was no longer in sight, she then retreated back into their house, closing the door with a wistful expression on her face.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ted was zipping through town on his scooter, exchanging good morning's with some of the people he saw along the way.

And speaking of the town; one could say that it was getting better. The townspeople had removed all the concrete that was covering the soil, and that gave grass the opportunity to thrive and to grow again. Flowers and plants that people could hardly remember anymore had started to spring up all over the place.

And in the center of the town? There stood the still fairly small and growing truffula tree.

As Ted arrived at the plaza, there was a certain redheaded girl diligently watering the tree and the other plants surrounding it.

"Hey Audrey!" he called out to her as he got off his scooter, his little heart fluttering a tad.

Audrey looked back from where she stood, and she immediately smiled upon seeing the young boy, "Oh, hi Ted!"

"So... you're watering the tree again, huh?" Ted asked, which was a rather silly question in all honesty, as Audrey had been coming here everyday without a miss ever since they planted the seed, and had been taking good care of the tree since then.

 _"Gee, really, Ted?"_ He thought to himself, cringing internally immediately after what he had said. Honestly, even Ted could see the stupidity in his pitifully pathetic attempt to strike up a conversation with this woman.

"Yes of course! You know just how important this is for me! And to think how amazingly fast the tree is growing in like, what? Only two or so years? This is a really beautiful thing for everyone!" Audrey replied with a cheerfully gentle demeanor, nonetheless.

Maybe that was the main reason why Ted had come to like her so; she was pretty, bright, and had a good heart.

"What about you? Where are you off to?" she asked Ted, catching him drifting off into daydream land again.

"O-Oh! W-Well, I'm heading off to the valley for a bit!" he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets trying to play it cool. "I'm uh... visiting a friend there,"

"Really? You have a friend living all the way out there in the valley?" she asked, her curiosity and fascination obviously piqued, as it was very unusual to have anyone living all the way out there.

"Yeah! He's... actually the same guy that gave me that seed in the first place, actually,"

"Really?!" Audrey gasped with widened eyes, "How did he get that seed? Where did he get it from?"

Ted scratched the back of his head, reminiscing some rather old memories, "It's... kind of a really long story,"

"Oh my gosh, how come you never told me any of this!?" Audrey asked, excitement filling her as she wanted to hear so much more about this mysterious friend that just so happened to have a truffula seed after all these years. And why has he not planted it sooner?! Why wait this long? It would be pretty impossible if they had just so happened to stumble upon a seed and just give it to Ted all willy-nilly! So many questions raised! And Audrey was already itching to know the answer to each and every one of them.

"Well, I guess the conversation never got brought up till now..." Ted replied with a shrug. "Sooo, do you wanna come with? To his house, maybe? You could probably ask him more about that seed if you'd like,"

Audrey's eyes practically sparkled with excitement at Ted's invitation, "Yes, I'd love to!"

"Oh! Okay! Um, neat! So um..." Ted practically mumbled, awkwardly gesturing towards his scooter.

After several other little moments of awkwardness that of which will no longer be relayed, as it is an act of sparing one from secondhand embarrassment, the two proceeded to ride through town, and past where the barrier once stood. The barrier that once successfully isolated the town in a shied of denial and blissful ignorance from what was actually happening around them.

They arrived at the valley quite soon enough, just outside of town where grickle grass used to grow, where the wind once smelled slow and sour when it blew, and no birds used to ever sing excepting old crows.

But now, things were starting to get a little bit brighter.

Bright green grass was slowly starting to grow all over the place again, and the sky was clearer and bluer than before. Soft, gentle breezes would come pass by more often again, and you can occasionally see birds flying past over the horizon just as they used to way back when.

Eventually, Audrey spotted a rather odd-looking building of sorts, and it seemed as though they were indeed heading towards that direction. She couldn't talk her eyes off the strange little, well, not really "little" so to speak, rather tall tower.

"Hey Ted?" Audrey suddenly called.

"Hm?"

"What's your friend like?"

That made Ted hum a little, "Well... he's... pretty old,"

That earned a soft chortle from Audrey, "Is that really all you have to say about him?"

"Ehh, you'll just... havta meet him for yourself to get your own idea of the guy," Ted simply replied.

Shortly after that, they stopped at the front of the house and hopped off their scooter.

"Hello?" Ted called out loudly, stepping onto the house's front porch with Audrey following him close by.

They stood by the doorway as Ted tried calling out some more, but with no response, and the young woman simply took her time eyeing the rest of the place. It was old, kind of a rusty place. The walls were discolored and had several cracks here and there. But there were also plants and vines growing and crawling around the crevices and corners. It kind of gave off that whimsical feeling, which was pretty nice. The door was most peculiar, however, as it had this signboard with the words, "The Once-ler" engraved on it. This simply made Audrey wonder what on earth that could be, but she kept her thoughts to herself for now.

Ted in the meanwhile was looking if his old friend was outside nearby doing something else, that is, until Audrey found the doorbell switch.

"Hey, why not try the doorbell, doesn't it work?" Audrey prompted as she reached for the switch, immediately making the young boy's heart drop in horror.

"What? Wait! NO!" Ted yelled as he ran back and tried to stop her, but as he pushed her away (as _gently_ as he possibly could), it was already too late. The doorbell rang, and before Audrey could even try to comprehend what was happening, the door flipped to reveal a contraption of sorts. The device worked in a way that as the door flipped, it would cause this scissor attached to it to cut a piece of string placed in-between the blades, and as that string was cut, a small catapult of sorts launched a plate of pie directly at the person standing in front of the doorway. In this case, that was poor Ted Wiggins.

"Not again...!" was all Ted could say before being hit square in the face with a plateful of fruit pie, falling flat onto his butt along the way.

"Omigosh, Ted!" Audrey exclaimed in concern as she ran up to help the boy. "What the heck was that all about!? Are you alright!?"

Poor Ted mumbled for a bit, taking the plate off his face and wiping some of the pie off of him. "Eh, yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, just some prank..." he mumbled rather bitterly.

As Audrey helped him get up to his feet, a rather tall, scraggly-looking figure ran up to them, "Hey, what's with all that racket?" the person asked in a rather irritated, raspy sort of voice.

The two of them looked up and saw the strange old man. Strange, in the way that he looked. His tall worn-out top hat and thick, bushy mustache were what seemd to have caught Audrey's attention the most. He looked quite cross with their presence at first, but as Ted greeted him a "Hey old man," his expression quickly shifted into amusement, and then shortly to that of laughter.

"Well Ted, I expected you to fall for my little traps once or twice, but I never would've guessed you'd fall for it the third time around!" the old man jested.

"Ex- _cuse_ me!" the young boy exclaimed while quickly wiping off a large amount of pie bits from his cheek, "But this time I actually took it _on purpose_ for someone! So it doesn't count!"

"Hmm I see..." the old man, Once-ler, said as he turned his attention towards Ted's companion. "So, are you his babysitter, little missy?"

"Gramps. Stop." Ted said apathetically.

"Wait, he's your grandpa?" Audrey asked, a little puzzled.

"What? Oh, no, I just call him that to make it easier and less awkward to call him by his name," he replied casually.

"Pfsht, isn't that a little rude?" she said as she playfully punched the boy on his shoulder.

By this point, the Once-ler was starting to catch on, and a playful little smirk danced across his face.

"Oh no, I really don't mind," he chimed in, "Besides, it's this _loverboy_ here the one being rude, not introducin' me to his little... girlfriend here,"

At this, Ted's face was practically flushed in red, his mouth opened agape and he couldn't yield a rebuttal, but his glare at the Once-ler basically screamed " _traitor_."

"Oh, I'm not his girlfriend! Ted's just a really good friend of mine," Audrey laughed, almost too obliviously. That helped Ted save face, but he couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken inside.

"My name is Audrey, sir, and it's really nice to meet you!" she introduced herself, shaking hands with Once-ler.

"It's very nice to meet ya too, Audrey, just call me Once-ler or whatever nickname suits your taste. Oh, and Ted's actually been telling me a lot about you!" he replied, instantly making the young boy glare daggers at him, but he only smirked it off.

"Really? That's hardly fair! Ted only pretty much told me about you today!" Audrey explained as they let go of their handshake. "He told me that you were the one who gave him that truffula seed, is that really true?" she asked with her eyes sparkling in anticipation.

"Well... yes," the Once-ler replied simply.

"Oh gosh, where did you get it from? And since you live all the way out here in the valley, were you around long enough just to see the truffula trees here?" Audrey asked, trying very hard to contain her curiosity.

The Once-ler muttered for a bit, trying to process her questions and just how to go about in answering them before replying, "It's kind of a long story, actually! Would you, er, like to come in, maybe?" he asked, gesturing somewhat awkwardly to his lerkim.

Audrey said that she'd simply love to, and Once-ler said that he simply hopes that they aren't in a hurry or anything at all. Of course Audrey was only more than eager to listen.

They sat by some rather old chairs that the Once-ler had propped out for them, and so began the retelling of the Once-ler's tale for the second time around as Ted simply just made himself busy with cleaning himself up. The Once-ler sang a few songs, and even played his old guitar, surprising Audrey. But it was a good surprised.

They went on with their storytelling, as well as several question and answer portions between the old man and Audrey.

He was strangely happy with having such company around, Ted noted, but he couldn't help but feel happy for the lonely old man's sake. Ted recalled inviting the Once-ler to come and move to Thneedville, but he said that it was a place with far too many... rather melancholic memories to go back to. And he felt that he wouldn't be that much welcome anymore.

Which was pretty ridiculous, Ted would recall blurting out, he lived the rest of his days in this valley that he practically destroyed for pete's sake, there was hardly any logic with his reasoning!

But nonetheless, the old man simply insisted that he was already doing fine here in the valley on his own.

* * *

Hours passed, and their storytelling finally came to a close.

Everything was pretty much exactly the same as Ted had heard from him, save for his new addition about a certain boy that he met, a boy whom, he would say, cared a whole awful lot, and eventually helped him get better with his life, and ultimately the lives of everyone else in town.

That earned a small smile from Audrey and Ted. And the room fell peacefully silent for a good minute.

Suddenly, Ted remembered something and reached for his rucksack, saying, "Hey! I almost forgot!"

Once-ler and Audrey both looked back at him as he unzipped his bag and pulled out a quite large pack of marshmallows, "Ta-da!" he presented the little gift proudly.

This made the old man practically dance with glee, and he excitedly skipped on over to Ted, eyeing his favorite snack.

Ted passed the pack of marshmallows on to him saying, "Sorry I nearly forgot, but to be fair, I could've remembered it sooner if you hadn't teased me earlier for nuthin',"

"Hmph, fair enough, loverboy," the Once-ler replied with a sly smile as he opened the bag and immediately started eating a few mallows. "Thank you anyway, Ted,"

"You should probably be thanking my Grammy though, she's the one that always goes out to buy you those things whenever she hears I'll be coming for a visit, or at least doesn't forget to remind me," Ted explained.

"Hunh, really...?" the Once-ler replied, his voice sounding somewhat distant and solemn.

"Yeah,"

"Hmm, hey Ted? How'd you know how to find Mister Once-ler by the way?" Audrey asked, "I mean... it's not like anyone in the valley knows that he still lives here after all these years,"

The old man seemed to stiffen.

"Oh, well, strangely enough, Grammy told me! Which was kinda weird, since she only started talking about you after I mentioned something about where to find a tree..." Ted explained, looking at their host, who now for some reason has started to look rather forlorn and quiet.

This made Ted rather concerned, "Hey gramps, you okay?"

No response.

"Mister Once-ler...?" Audrey called out in a concerned tone as well.

It took them a couple more seconds before the Once-ler finally snapped out of his trance, "O-Oh! Eherm, sorry 'bout that! I, er, getting old stuff, you know? Haha!" And shortly after he was back to his bubbly demeanor, but it felt sort of forced, in some way.

"Phew, you had us worried there, gramps, ya sure you're okay?" Ted prompted.

"Yes yes, yes, I'll be fine! I'm fine!" he replied with dismissive hand gestures.

Audrey was still silent though, and looked like she was thinking deeply about something.

"Hey Ted... What's the name of your grandma again?" Audrey asked.

"Hm? Uh... Norma Wiggins, why?" Ted replied, glancing at Audrey, at which she instantly glanced at the Once-ler again, who now seems frozen in place once more.

Ted noticed this behavior as well, but wasn't quite sure what to make of it, "Hey... gramps... did you happen to know my Grammy?"

"I feel like they know each other Ted, I mean how else could your grandma know about Mister Once-ler after all these years!" Audrey exclaimed in a way that sounded like she just cracked the code to some riddle.

"I never really thought of it that way... hey gramps-"

"Oops! Would you look at the time, you youngsters should really be startin' to head back home before dark now!" Once-ler suddenly declared quickly with his face held low, and then proceeded to have the two leave despite their objections.

He abruptly closed the door as soon as the two were outside. This made Ted and Audrey awfully confused, but it also compelled the curious redhead to want to know more. And even Ted was just as piqued.

And so they both agreed to have a little Q&A with old Grammy Norma.

As the Once-ler watched the two zip off on their scooter from his window, he let out a huge sigh.

He was practically trembling at this point, and as he raised his face on normal levels again, one could see the old man's cheeks burning a flustered red.

* * *

Shortly when they got to Ted's house, Mrs. Wiggins was cooking something in the kitchen, and Ted's Grammy greeted the two home.

The three sat at the table and Grammy asked them on how their little visit went.

"So, did anything new happen with you, Tedster and Audrey dear?" she asked while playing with what seems to be a pink string of yarn with both her hands.

Ted and Audrey stared at each other for a brief moment before nodding.

"Yeah... and um, I know it's kind of out of the blue, but me and Ted were wondering if you and Mister Once-ler know each other, maybe?" Audrey asked as respectfully as she could.

This caused Grammy to stop in her tracks, and she had a mix of a surprised and blank expression on her face.

"Um... it's okay if you don't feel comfortable telling us though, Grammy..." Ted added, somewhat reluctantly. He really wanted to know at least more about their connection, for some reason, but didn't want to push her if she didn't want to.

A small, thoughtful smile then crept onto Grammy Norma's face, and she began playing with her yarn again and said with a giggle, "Did he tell you anything about that?"

Audrey replied, "Um, no he was just kinda... he just kinda acted pretty nervously when we talked about you and mentioned your name and stuff,"

"Aaand he kinda kicked us out after trying to directly ask the same question," Ted added.

This earned a good laugh from Grammy, "Oh, he was always such a nervous card! It looks like he still hasn't changed much... Okay, well maybe that's not actually the case, but..."

She was trailing off, and she had this reminiscing little look on her face.

"So you two really _do_ know each other!" Audrey exclaimed, leaning forward on her seat.

Grammy Norma simply smiled a little wider.

"Soo... considering gramps ain't gonna tell us anything, can you be the storyteller this time, Grammy? Please?" Ted pleaded, leaning forward on his seat as well.

His Grammy chuckled lightly and began, "Alright, dearies, but I hope you're not tired or anything, because this is gonna be a long one!"

The two simply smiled and nodded in unison, getting in a comfortable position on their chair.

"Then it all started a _long, long time ago..."_


	2. A Dustland Fairytale Beginning

It was a bright and sunny morning as usual in the Truffula Valley. The Barbaloots were out and about, gorging themselves on the delicious truffula fruits. And the Humming Fishes sang and danced to and fro in the long, flowing, and pristine crystal clear river. The Swomee Swans frolicked in the sky, and would occasionally come to roost on top of the fluffy truffula treetops.

The wind always carried a soft gentle breeze. It was calm and soothing to the soul, with the sweet scent of butterfly milk mixed along the way. The sky was pure and blue, and the clouds up above looked very similar to cotton candy, and they give you the impression that you could just reach up and touch them. And let's not forget the soft, colorful pink and orange truffula tufts lining the hills and mountains as far the eye can see.

It was yet another peaceful day in this paradise, and everyone within it didn't have single care in the world...

 _"Wooo-hoo!"_

...And that included a certain young woman, speeding down from a fairly high hill riding a wooden sled of sorts that worked even with no snow. Her own little joy and laughter filled the air as she expertly leaned left and right, avoiding all the truffula trees down the way. Her dark brown eyes sparkling with excitement as adrenaline rushed through her system, the wind brushing fast past against her.

"N...! ...a!"

"What!?" the young woman looked back towards the voice, spotting her blonde little friend from a distance frantically pointing and waving her hands.

"Look! Out!" her friend shouted at the top of her lungs in exasperated breath.

But it didn't do much good, by the time the young woman had noticed the rocky obstacle on the way, she was already too near to swerve away, and she was coming down fast. So she got up and promptly jumped off her makeshift sled, the latter crashing onto the rocks and having bits and pieces of it breaking and flying off.

The young woman in the meanwhile landed square on her feet on the grassy ground, clean and unscathed.

"Whew! Well, that was fun!" she exclaimed proudly, running her hand through her curly auburn hair, only to have it get stuck mid-way.

"Speak for yourself, Norma!" the woman in a red plaid flannel and denim overalls from before commented loudly, jogging slowly up to her before stopping to catch her breath. "Aren't you... huff... aren't ya a little too hot-blooded to be a florist?" she added, panting heavily.

Norma simply let out a good laugh as she got to successfully untangle her hand from her hair, replying, "Oh, Carmen, don't be such a stick in the mud! Me being a florist has absolutely nothing to do with how hot or cold my blood is; Also, you should've gotten your own sled so we could've rode down the hill together!"

"Oh, and get myself nearly killed?" Carmen replied with a slightly apathetic-but mostly tired-look on her face, crossing her arms, and side-glancing at the sled's carnage, _"No thanks._ I'd rather read a book, y'know, so can we go home yet, please?"

"What? No way! Come on, we barely just got here!" Norma said as she interlocked her arm with Carmen's, then tugged on her slightly.

Carmen rolled her eyes at her saying, "Well yeah, but I'm already _super_ tired from running and screaming after you,"

"Pfbt, well nobody asked you to!" Norma shot back, and the two started to slowly walk on forward while talking and bantering along the way.

The two had been fairly good friends for a while now. And they were both contrasts in all the possible ways. Norma was a pretty small person, but quite fierce and jumpy and just full of energy; and she lived for adventure of all sorts and trying new things. Carmen on the other hand, would rather gladly prefer the quiet life just reading a book all day if she could. She was much taller than her chubby little friend, but for some reason she would always be the one getting dragged around into Norma's endeavors. But they looked out for each other nonetheless.

They stopped to rest by the riverbank after a while, and as Carmen was sitting by the riverside admiring the humming fishes, Norma opted to climb up one of the trees to get her hands on some fruits to eat.

"Norma. For God's sake, please get down from that tree before you hit your head on the ground," Carmen told her in a sternly monotone voice, not even glancing.

"Nah, I'll be fine, don't worry about it!" she replied while hanging upside-down on the tree and grabbing a couple truffruits. "I've done this like a billion times already, and these truffula fruits are just absolutely worth it!"

By this time, a couple barbaloots were starting to gather around their little commotion, and Carmen was up to her feet, looking up at Norma with an "I'm so done for today" look on her face. Which is pretty much her expression eighty-five percent of the time she hangs around with a girl like her friend up here. "Norma, please. You're wearing a skirt."

"Relaax, I've got shorts underneath!" Norma told her as she tossed a fruit at her worryful companion, then proceeded to jump down from the tree in a somersault fashion, then took a bite from the fruit she held.

Carmen couldn't do anything else but smile, rolling her eyes, and taking a bite from her share as well.

The two then continued to walk on farther, with a bunch of the valley's creatures following them or watching them close by.

It had become the two women's routine to walk around the forest by now during the weekends on their day-offs. Maybe even help water or fertilize some of the trees and play around with the animals. Not many people really come here, so not much changes when they visit. Norma had practically memorized most of the places they've been to, so she's become fairly familiar with their surroundings.

The two would usually stay till sunset before heading back home to town. It's like their little hangout custom now. After Norma pulls off some "life-threatening stunts" according to Carmen, they would just idle on by in this little paradise, free from worry and seemingly hidden from the bustling and busy world around it.

* * *

Until one day, during their next visit...

"Carmen... are you seeing...?"

"Yeah, I see it girl,"

Both of them had been standing in silent shock for a good minute now, staring at the first lone tree stump they've ever encountered. A few animals had gathered around their feet as well with just as much concern circling their thoughts.

"That's... weird... No one's ever chopped down any of the trees here before..." Norma noted quietly.

Carmen pursed her lips and took a deep breath in and out before replying, "Well, face it girl - it was bound to happen at some point,"

"Don't be like that!" Norma told her, placing her hands on her hips, "There's... there has to be something we can do...!" Norma added determinedly, pounding her fist against her open palm.

Carmen sighed and swiped her hand aloofly against the air, "Oh come on, Norma, what is there we can do to help, anyway?" After which she started to walk off, "It's not like we can get those industry people to stop, 'might as well just accept the bitter reality of it all," she added sourly.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Norma exclaimed as she ran to catch up with her fairly disappointed-looking friend. "You can't just be all cynical and give up like that!"

"Oh please, Norma; this is the _real_ world, nothing good ever lasts in the real world. Why else do you think I prefer to read a book?" Carmen replied while kicking a pebble along the way.

"Well _I'm_ disappointed that you would just pack up and quit just so easily without even trying!" Norma shot back, practically stomping her feet at this point.

"Try to do _what,_ Norma?"

"To at least try to keep this place protected from the _'real world'!_ " Norma said with quote-unquote signs. To which Carmen just clicks her mouth and quickly dismisses her off, striding away.

Norma quickly tried to catch up with her bitter companion, continuing her rant while gesturing around the colorful forest around them, "So what? Is that it? Are you just gonna give up and quit like usua-oof!" she yelped shortly after bumping into Carmen, who had now stopped mid-track and appeared to be staring blankly at something. The animals following behind them ended up bumping into Norma too from the abrupt stop.

"Hey, what's with the sudden...!?" the feisty redhead began, before trailing off and following the blonde's stare, "...Oh."

In front of them stood a house of sorts. But it was unique, in a way that it seemed to be held up in the same manner as a tent would be.

"Is... that a house, or... a tent?" Norma thought out loudly with her head tilted to the side, observing the curious structure despite the circumstances already at hand.

"I dunno, but one thing's for sure," Carmen said blandly as she walked up to the other side of the house, with Norma and the other animals following suit. "...This is our culprit right here,"

Norma gasped as there lay on the ground, just right next to the house itself, the fallen truffula trunk. The tufts appearing to have been harvested, as only a few, gloomy, lifeless strands of trufts remained on the top end of the fallen tree.

"This is horrible!" Norma exclaimed, kneeling on the ground near the tree, grief written across her face as a couple barbaloots went up to her. "Why would anyone chop off a tree just to gather the tufts...?" she muttered as Carmen went over to the front of the house to investigate further.

"Well, apparently whoever set up this house-tent thought it was a good idea," Carmen called out as she stood by the front door, "Come 'ere,"

Norma slowly got up, carrying a small barbaloot in her arms, and went on over to where Carmen was.

"...'The... Once-ler'...?" Norma read out from the signboard hanging by the door. "What the heck's a Once-ler!?"

"Probably the company's name or whatever..." Carmen replied nonchalantly.

"Well they must really suck at coming up with names then," Norma remarked scornfully under her breath, "That's the most ridiculous company name I've ever heard!"

Carmen chuckled slightly at Norma's blunt remarks, "Heh, well, whatever the distasteful name choice..." she then turned to Norma with a serious, but somewhat forlorn look, "You do know that there's nothing we can do to stop 'em... right?"

Norma stared back at her cynical companion and replied, "W-Well..." she paused, hugging the small barbaloot a bit tighter, "We can always _try_ , Carmen. And I will! For the sake of this beautiful forest, and for all of the animals that live in it!" The redhead declared proudly, earning soft little cheers from the creatures around them.

Carmen gave out a deep sigh, "Is there really no convincing you otherwise...?" she asked, almost sounding as if it were a rhetorical question.

"Nope!" Norma asserted, chin raised up and full of determination.

Carmen let out another sigh before complying with her friend's endeavors once again, "Alright, alright... But since nobody's home at the moment anyway, can ya at least come with me back at my place for a bit? I have something I need to do first,"

"Oh! Well, alrighty then!" Norma chirruped as she placed down the baby barbaloot, telling him in a gentle voice that they'll be back soon.

* * *

As the two were on the way back to town, Carmen couldn't help but note Norma's unusually high concern for something. That something right now being the preservation of the truffula valley. And when she says "unusually high" - that's actually saying something.

"Hey Norma?"

"Yes~?" Norma replied in a sing-song voice, skipping along the way as Carmen walked aloofly with her hands in her pockets.

"Why do you care so much about what happens to this place anyway?" Carmen asked.

"What place? You mean the valley?" Norma said, looking at her companion.

"Yeah, I mean... don't get me wrong, but-you're usually so... how do I put this?" Carmen paused, waving her hand in the air as she thought up of a fitting term, " _Complacent_. Or... calm. About, y'know, matters- _big_ matters that you know you really don't have much control over,"

That made Norma stop to think for a bit. She was right though. Whenever things seem too out of reach for her, Norma would just let it be on her own. She was adventerous and ready to do anything, sure, but even she knows where her limits are. And stopping the potential deforestation of a valley sounds like the kind of matter that even she can't prevent in the long run. What power does she have against all those big-time industry companies, anyway?

And yet...

"It's because I love that place, Carmen," Norma replied in a soft and sure tone, with a small hint of happiness lingering in it.

She smiled a small smile and added, regaining her fiesty confidence, "That valley is important to me. And that's why we're gonna try to do everything we can in our power to protect it!"

Carmen simply smiled, noting how amazingly passionate Norma could be for something she truly cares about, "I see..."

And after which, they fell quiet, walking along the grassy path.

When they arrived back in the usually quiet town of Greenville, the two girls couldn't help but notice the rather... cheerier aura about the town. Almost everyone seemed to be huddled in groups, talking and laughing about something. Or in this case, some _one_.

"Hey, what's all the commotion about?" Norma asked a group of teenage girls they encountered along the way.

"Oh, there was some guy playing his guitar around the center of town just a while ago!" one of the girls replied, still giggling.

Her friend decided to chime in with a few more details, "Yeah! He was _hilarious!_ He sang this pretty ridiculous song trying to sell this weird thing or whatever!"

"Some kids started throwing tomatoes at him, and everyone around just kinda followed suit, you should have seen it!" added another.

"Isn't that kind of mean...?" Norma muttered, sounding a bit concerned for whomever that poor fellow was.

"Oh come on, you know how this town works with new and eccentric people," Carmen whispered to her with a disinterested, deadpan expression on her face.

"Hey, come on, with how that guy carried himself, he was practically asking for it!" the first girl told them.

"Yeah, I mean, really? That... that theedie-mahookie? Who would _buy_ that? It's just some stupid thick scarf that doesn't even look good!" the second one added in a scoffing manner.

"It was kinda too bad, though... he was a crummy salesman, but he was pretty hot!" one of the other girls teetered, making the whole group roar in laughter before walking off.

"...Aaand, that's about one minute of my life I'll never get back," Carmen remarked coldly as she looked at her left hand, checking her nonexistent watch, "Let's go, Norma," she called out as she started to walk off to their destination, and Norma followed suit without another word.

When they arrived at Carmen's place, she told Norma to just wait outside since she won't be long.

The redhead then went to take a seat by the nearest bench, remembering the first time she arrived in town herself. It was a fairly quiet town; a bit isolated from all the other bustling cities and the like, but it had every basic need you'd, well, need. The townspeople in the meanwhile, were, well, quite the unruly crowd. Most were cold or uncaring towards new people, but they would eventually warm up to you as time passes on. Norma guessed that was just how things were around here.

Just then, the sound of a vase crashing nearby pierced the air, causing Norma to wake from her thoughts, making her literally jump from her seat and inevitably bump onto the passerby walking in front of her.

"Ow!" both parties yelped in unison.

"Hey, watch it!" the other person said in a _very_ irritated tone.

"Sorry!" Norma immediately apologized sincerely.

But it seemed as though the young man before her wasn't having that. "Look before you leap next time, shortie," he muttered under his breath in a condescending manner.

" _What_ was that, buddy?!" Norma exploded as she looked up-and she really _did_ have to look up-at the very tall, thin man before her, "I'm short, but not deaf! And I said I was sorry, bub! I don't think I like your crummy little attitude!"

"Oh who cares what you think? Don't whine around like some stinky baby, lady," the young man replied, his arms crossed and his apathetic stare not meeting that of the furious redhead. "It's not like anyone would care what you think around here..." he added that last part rather bitterly.

Of course, that response just made Norma all the more furious. "And just who the heck do you think you are, huh?! Just because you're so bitter about hell knows why, doesn't give you an instant free pass to be some stuck-up prick!"

"Look, I just had a nasty day today, alright!?" the young man snapped back through gritted teeth, and deep, bright blue eyes were now glaring down at her, but she did not shrink down one bit.

The young man leaned back and took a deep breath, then started rubbing his forehead. His eyebrows were furrowed heavily, and he was muttering something incoherent to himself. This made Norma stop for a bit, and she took this silence as an opportunity to take a closer look at the man.

His clothes appeared to have red stains in various spots, almost as if they were thrown or splattered there then just hastily brushed off of him. He wore a very thick-looking pink scarf around his neck, and there was what appears to be a black and white electric guitar strapped around his shoulder and back.

"Oh... you're... you're that new guy everyone's been talking about..." Norma said, her anger beginning to subside.

The young man took another deep breath before replying, waving his hands about in a mocking manner, "Yeah, you must've missed it, woo-hoo, meet the new town fool, am I right?"

He then kept his head low and crossed his arms again, biting his lower lip.

"I'm sorry," Norma said in a softer and gentler tone.

The young man's composure seemed to loosen a bit as he shot a surprised stare towards the young woman, "...What?"

"I'm sorry, y'know? On behalf of what everyone else... how everyone else treated you... I'm _really_ sorry for that..." she added, staring back at the young man with sincere, dark brown eyes.

"I..." This seemed to have caught the man at a loss for words, and he fumbled over what to say before replying coherently, "It's... alright, you really didn't do anything, and... none of that's your fault..." he said, breaking off his stare, taking his fedora off and running a hand through his soft-looking black hair.

" _I'm_ the one who should be sorry... I, uh, shouldn't have taken all my anger out on you..." he added in a quiter tone.

"Apology accepted." Norma said with a fairly proud-looking smile. "Do you... wanna take a seat?" she then asked, gesturing to the bench behind her.

The young man simply went and sat down next to her, landing down with exhaustion and exasperation, all rolled into one as he buried his face into his hands. After which Norma sat down afterwards. _By God does this man have long legs,_ she thought to herself, noting how his knees were already bent whilst her feet just about touches the ground.

She shakes that thought off for now and decided to call the young man's attention, "Hey,"

The other responded and looked up slightly.

"I heard that you did a bit of a performance with your guitar or something,"

"Oh. Well, yeah, I did..." he replied, lifting his head up a little higher, "I don't even know _why_ everybody hated me... I mean... come on, my skills can't be _that_ horrible, can it? I've been playing for years!" he continued with a slight chuckle, a small, rueful smile forming on his face as he glanced at his newfound acquaintance.

Norma giggled slightly, "Well... the people here are a pretty unruly crowd... they don't take to new... _unique_ things lightly with open arms... nor much of an open mind," she explained.

"Is that so..." the young man muttered, looking down once again.

"But! Hey!" Norma piped up, mustering a reassuring smile, "Y'know, maybe after some time, and... y'know, patience and effort... I bet the town'll warm up to you eventually! I mean, that's how things kinda worked out for me when I first came here!"

This made the young man's eyes sparkle with hope, and a big smile made its way across his face, "Really?"

"Yeah!" Norma affirmed him, even though she herself wasn't exactly too sure if what she was saying would be true for his case.

"I mean... that's always been this crazy town's pattern! Why else would it be different for you?" she added, trying to reassure not only her companion, but also herself.

"Oh man! That's such a relief to hear!" the young man exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and stretching his long arms up into the air. Then he placed his hands onto his hips and declared proudly, "Just you wait, ol' Greenville; someday soon, me and my thneed'll take you all by storm! Haha!"

Then he turned to face Norma, his big, proud grin disappearing slowly as a sincere and thoughtful look replaced it.

"Um... thanks," he said in a soft voice, then flashed her a small, grateful smile.

Norma gave him a smile back, "You're welcome."

The two of them exchanged sincere looks with each other for a brief moment, before being interrupted by a mule neighing loudly a short distance away from them, calling their attention.

The young man let out a rueful sigh, uttering the name "Melvin" under his breath. He then turned to face Norma, gesturing towards the mule saying, "I uh... gotta go now, I guess,"

"Friend of yours?" Norma replied, raising a brow.

" _Travelling_ _companion_ ," he stated. After which the mule neighed once more, biting onto the nearest topiary it could find its teeth on by the town square.

"H-Hey hey hey! Melvin! Don't eat that!" the young man shouted as he raced towards his so-called travelling companion, who had now begun to munch on the once perfectly cube-shaped topiary.

"Oh come on! We don't want this town hating us more than it already does for crying out loud!" Norma could hear him yell as he reached the black-furred mule, yanking it away from the leaves to prevent any more further damage, earning a short chortle from her.

"So," Carmen suddenly began, who was now standing right next to Norma and effectively calling her attention, making her jump for the second time around already.

"Who's the new guy?" Carmen continued in a bland tone of voice.

"Oh? That guy? Uh..." Norma stuttered, looking slightly flushed in the cheeks, glancing at the lanky man arguing with a wagon mule not too far away from them.

"The new town clown, I'm guessing?" Carmen continued for her.

"Uh, yep!" Norma confirmed aloofly, still looking at her newly met acquaintance from afar with amusement as the mule snatched his fedora away from him with its mouth, and downright refusing to let go as the young man struggled to yank his hat back.

The two looked on for a short while before Carmen spoke up once again.

"He's an asshole."

Norma couldn't help but laugh, "What?"

"He's an asshole; I heard you two's argument from inside my house, y'know," Carmen explained.

"Oh that? Well. Yeah. He _is_ kind of an asshole," Norma replied with a slight chuckle, "But... I don't think he's a bad guy... y'know, in general,"

"Uh-hunh," Carmen hummed nonchalantly. "Whatever you say, flower girl," she added with a hint of a teasing tone.

Norma placed both her hands on her hips and looked up at her friend, "And just what the heck was that supposed to imply there, missy?"

"Oh, nothing..." Carmen replied with a small playful grin, rolling her eyes.

"Pfsht, would you stop that?" Norma said, punching her friend lightly by the arm. "We barely just met, jeez..."

"Yeah, but if he's staying in town for a while, I know just how flirty you're gonna get with him,"

"Hey! A girl's gotta strut her stuff every now and again, y'know?" Norma replied, striking a pose, making Carmen laugh at her.

"Oh by the way, I kinda broke Nana's vase, so you gotta go help me find a replacement of sorts for it," Carmen then told her.

"You what!?" Norma exclaimed, remembering the sound of porcelain crashing earlier, "How the heck did you break it!? And more importantly-how are we gonna find us a replacement!?"

"Oh just chill first, will you? I accidentally knocked it over while I was looking for something,"

"And as for replacing it!?"

"Pfsh, we just gotta find a vase just the same size as it to fill up the missing space; Nana won't notice the difference,"

Norma gave Carmen a deadpan expression, "And what about the money for it?"

Carmen breathed in through her teeth, "Yeeaah... we'll talk about that when we get there, yeah?"

"Oh that's always the case with you, isn't it!" Norma exclaimed as she pushed her playfully, and the two girls laughed.

And as the redhead's eyes glanced back to the direction of the town square, she caught the young man, who had now successfully retrieved his fedora, looking at them from where he stood. But as he and Norma made short eye contact, he immediately retracted his gaze from them, turning away and pulling Melvin along with him as they slowly left the town.

* * *

 _"So that was how you met gramps?"_

Ted inquired, to which Grammy Norma simply gave a small nod, smiling with her face cupped in between her hands as she told the story like a little girl lost in her daydreams.

"Did you two ever get close after that though?" Audrey eagerly prompted.

"Well-" Grammy was about to reply, before being interrupted by Mrs. Wiggins bringing in their meal.

"Heey kiddos, it's chowtime!" she declared proudly, placing four soup bowls on the table and noticing that the two 'kiddos' looked rather upset.

"Oh! Was I interruptin' somethin'?" she continued, "Was Mom telling you kids one of her fantasy stories again?"

"Umm... kinda?" Ted replied meekly, shrugging his shoulders.

"A story, but... not exactly fantasy," Audrey chimed in.

"Well whatever the case, y'all can continue it after we eat, m'kay?" Mrs. Wiggins said, taking her seat right next to her mom.

As they were eating their meal, Audrey piped up, restating her earlier query, "So... wait, you two must've gotten closer after that, right? I mean, you obviously know more about him, don't you...?"

Grammy Norma simply gave a small chuckle, "Oh deary, that meeting doesn't even cover up _half_ of our relationship,"

"So you'll be telling us more stuff, right?" Ted chimed in. To which his grandma simply gave him a small nod.

"If you kids don't mind, that is - I might babble on without noticing it, y'know,"

"No, of course not!" "Not at all!" the two said in unison.

In which Ted's mother took quick glances in-between the two parties, "What y'all going on about now? And who's this person that y'all are asking Mom about?" she asked, raising a brow.

"Umm..." Ted stuttered for a brief moment, thinking what would be the right words to say. That is, until Grammy replied bluntly on her own.

"Oh, just about the Once-ler, dearie," she said, surprising the two a little.

"Ohh _that_ story, alrighty then," Mrs. Wiggins replied casually, surprising the two further.

"Mom. You've heard Grammy's story about gr-about the Once-ler before?" Ted inquired.

"Yeah, of course I have! He's that guy that supposedly came and chopped down all the trees or whatever despite all the consequences he knows that'll happen; your gramma likes telling that story a lot to me since I was a kid, y'know," his mother replied, twirling her spoon around.

"O-Oh..." Ted mumbled.

"But... did she tell you everything there was to tell, Mrs. Wiggins...?" Audrey suddenly asked, getting the feeling that she didn't know the whole story.

"What else is there to tell about? It's just some fairytale mom made up, ain't it?"

Ted and Audrey immediately glanced at each other.

"But, Mom..." Ted started, to which his Grammy started twiddling her fingers and pouting innocently, as if she already knew what would happen next.

"We _met_ Mr. Once-ler," Audrey continued.

"Grammy was telling us about how she knew gramps-er, him. He was the one who gave me that seed; he's the friend I've been visiting every now and then," Ted explained further.

His mother looked very surprised, and, well, speechless, in disbelief to say the least. And after shooting a glare towards her guilty-looking mother for any confirmation, all she could muster for a rebuttal was, "What!?"


	3. Fifteen Pence-Disclosure

Ted sat shrinking in his chair next to his aloof-looking Grammy as Mrs. Wiggins frantically paced back and forth in front of them, seeming ready to rant on endlessly and _demanding_ for answers.

 _"So let me get this straight,"_ she began as she came to a stop, rapidly tapping her foot as she eyed both son and mother carefully with a death glare, then raising her index finger and sharply pertaining to Ted, " _You_ have been visiting some stranger that was supposedly a fictional character that Mom used to tell me in her stories when I was younger, and he lived all the way outside of town?! Theodore Wiggins, why have you never informed me of this?! You could've gotten hurt or even _worse_ while venturing that far out into the valley!"

"W-We-Well-I-You-You never _asked!_ I always thought you were cool with me just-just heading out on my own!" Ted stuttered in his defense, "And I didn't know that you've heard of gra-of Mr. Once-ler before!"

 _"That's because I thought you were just visiting Audrey!"_ Mrs. Wiggins cried, throwing her hands up into the air, and began pacing back and forth once more, but in a much faster pace this time before briefly stopping and facing her mother, "And as for _you,_ Mom; how are-how are you _consenting your grandson_ to just-!" she paused, puffing up her cheeks, "To just wandering out there in some place where no one ever goes to! My baby could've been _hurt!"_

"But Mom-!" Ted tried to speak up.

 _"Zip it, young man!"_ but it was obviously a futile effort.

"And let's not get started on... on this..." the frantic mother waved and swiped and spun her hands about, and began pacing around again, "On this _person_ that we barely know - that just so happens to have been someone you met a long time ago; that-that if they really are the kind of person you told me about in your stories then... Then how could you just trust a person like that with our Ted!?" To which Mrs. Wiggins finally stops, facing Grammy Norma with a look full of worry and concern, all evident and bottled up in her eyes.

Silence fell within the room, and Grammy had come to realize and understand why her daughter was flaring up so.

"Oh, honey... Helen, I-" she tried to say in a gentle and understanding way, but her daughter wasn't gonna hear any of it.

"Nope! That's it! I'm done!" Helen cried, raising her hands to the air, turning her back on them and marching away and up to the stairs, straight to her room.

"Mom...!" Ted tried to call out weakly.

But his mother only stopped for a brief moment as she opened the door, shooting a disdainful glare towards her mom, saying, "...And of all the stories you could've told me about the people you've met... you could've just been telling me ones about Dad!"

And with that, she enters her room, slamming the door shut; leaving the living room in silence once more.

Grammy Norma then took a deep sigh, leaning back on her seat, "Yeesh, that was even more intense than I thought,"

"Are you okay, Grammy?" Ted asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, kiddo; your mom's just pretty bitter about a few things," she replied, "Kind of like someone she took after..." adding that last bit quietly and ruefully under her breath.

Audrey then stood up from the sidelines and approached them, wondering if Helen would be alright, and if she should be going off on her way now. Grammy said it'll be fine, and that Helen just needed to cool off.

* * *

After getting themselves a drink, and a good sitting position by the couch, Grammy Norma sat across the two and asked, "Well what now, kiddos?"

Audrey glanced at Ted, who still looked rather shaken up from Mrs. Wiggins' scolding.

"Ted?" she called to him softly.

"Hm?" Ted responded, meeting eyes with her.

"You okay?"

"Ehhh..." he mumbled, making anxious shrugging noises before replying coherently, "I'm... still pretty upset about upsetting Mom, you know?"

"Oh, try not to beat yourself about it, Tedster; After all, it's me who your Mom's most mad at, I'm sure," his Grammy told him with a sincere look on her face.

The boy didn't reply at first, he was only looking down from where he sat, laying far back into his seat and pursing his lips.

"Hey Grammy? Whatever did happen to Grampa...?" He finally managed to say with squinted eyes.

Grammy Norma thought for a few moments before replying herself, "I'm... sure you'll just figure things out in due time, Tedster; maybe even real soon," she merely said, leaving Ted even more perplexed. She then took a glance at Audrey, whom for some reason wouldn't stop tapping her foot, and was leaning forward on her seat.

"Something bothering you, dear?"

"Oh! Um," Audrey stuttered in surprise, "Well- to be honest, I mean, I didn't want to seem insensitive of course, but..." she paused, tucking her hair behind her ear, "I actually just... _really_ wanted hear more of your story, but then, y'know... stuff happened, so... I got really reluctant to ask again..."

"Oh! Well, why didn't you say so? I was raring to continue anyway," Grammy Norma replied in her usual cheery demeanor.

"Are you sure it's alright?" Audrey asked, to which the old woman simply smiles at her.

"Don't worry about a thing; in fact, I think it might even help shed a little light on a few things..." Grammy said with a playfully knowing grin, glancing at her grandson, whom of which still looked pretty clueless about everything.

She then cleared her throat, "So where did we last stop?"

"Well, around that part when Mr. Once-ler left town after meeting you!" Audrey eagerly replied.

"Ohh, right! Yes, thank you dearie!"

 _So you see, we weren't able to start with our little "mission" right away; Carmen and I had to scour the entire town just to get a good replacement for that vase she broke. Then the day after that, I actually had to restock for my shop, and Carmen had some family stuff to take care of too. But I guess it wasn't an entire day wasted..._

* * *

Thud! Went a rather old, thick book on Norma's counter, prompting the small shopkeeper to look up from her place, organizing a pack of seeds on the display rack, "What's this?"

"It's that thing I had us come back to yesterday," her placid blonde friend said, leaning over the counter.

They were inside Norma's quaint little flower shop. The cream pink walls were lined with shelves and flowerpots, each displaying all sorts of vivid and colorful and lively flowers. All ranging from rhododendrons, daffodils, daisies, roses, carnations, peonies... the list goes on. One side of the shop, just opposite the counter, had potholders dangling from the ceiling, displaying a number of petite orchids. There was also a single, long shelf just on top of the counter where a few blue watering cans with flower prints on them lay. And by the end of the small shop was a large, empty white rack of sorts. Sunlight shone through the small building via a fairly large landscape window just right of the doorway. And if you stood from the counter, you could easily see bright flowers of all sorts on display just outside of the shop, fenced within its boundaries with a line of white picket fences.

Back indoors, Norma had just finished arranging the stack of seeds, and proceeded to place them within their respective labeled boxes on top of the counter. After that, she then took a gander at the dirty golden yellow book that her friend here presented to her, putting on her red rectangular-rimmed glasses.

She flipped open the book to a random page, only to be greeted by a rising cloud of dust.

"Oh jeez! Sorry about that, I wasn't able to dust off most of the inside of the book," Carmen explained to her coughing friend as she helped her fan off the dust cloud. "Err... just turn the pages a bit more slowly next time, I guess?"

Norma took off her glasses to clean them, and as her vision cleared, and when her eyes weren't teary from all that collected dust anymore that still managed to get past her glasses, she found herself looking down on a page full of information on trees and fruits and all sorts. The pages were fairly worn and discolored, but one could still make out the words and illustrations.

She put her glasses back on and scanned the page; listed down were names of trees and the fruits they bore, accompanied by a rough illustration of them. The top corner of the page had the name of an unfamiliar valley written down. She looked up to her friend with a skeptical look and restated her earlier query, "What's this?"

Carmen stared back at her with a deadpan expression, "It's a book on famous valleys and stuff, genius. Why don'cha try and look for _our_ little valley, hm?"

Norma pouted and started to carefully shuffle through the rim of the pages, muttering an "Alright, alright! Sheesh," in the process.

The valleys listed were in alphabetical order, as she's come to notice, so she started to slow down around the T's till-

"Truffula Valley!" she declared proudly, fully opening the book and fanning off some dust that rose along the way.

Her friend simply gave her a slow nod, cupping her chin between her hands as she rested her elbows on the counter.

"Thought it might be a little useful to ya, considering I can't help at all today due to the fact I gotta take care of a buncha family stuff; soo I dug that up from our shelves first for ya," she explained, while Norma was already busy skimming through the pages.

"Hey, didja even hear me?" Carmen called out before she straightened up and started heading towards the door.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you," Norma replied, glancing up to her and then smiling, "Thanks Carmen,"

She then opened up a drawer by her counter and rummaged through it for a moment, after which she took out a bookmark and placed it on the page, closing the book carefully and adding, "It'll actually take me a few hours or so before I can get to the valley and investigate more, but the second I'm done with work, you bet I'll be heading on out there ready to kick some industrialist ass!"

Carmen shook her head and giggled, just as she was taking her leave, "Well, try not to cause any trouble, yeah?"

"No promises," Norma replied with a playful smirk.

* * *

When Norma had finally finished her work, it was just around two o'clock in the afternoon. And before she nearly forgot, she passed by the book Carmen handed her and gave the section on the Truffula valley a read. It said that it is one of the most beautiful and oldest valleys to exist, having been around for several decades even. It mentioned how the truffula trees were very rare and peculiar things, having those tufts as soft as silk, with the sweet scent of butterfly milk and all. And it was only natural for such a lush, dense forest to have its own folklore circling around it.

Norma turned the page, and she saw a rather strange, fluffy orange creature of sorts illustrated on the book. It said that this was the Lorax, the sole guardian of this forest. Stories say that he is summoned whenever a certain danger arises within the forest. The creature is said to be magic, but it has no power over humans; only that, it is willing to do what it can to help them realize what they're doing, and that he is merely a... mediator of sorts.

"Really? Why can't the guardian of the forest be like some radical, creepy-lookin' creature instead? I bet that'd be more effective," Norma commented ruefully.

After which she closed up the book, grabbed her sunhat, and made her way through town. She passed by a few people that greeted her along the way, and she even saw the lanky young man from before out of the corner of her eye, making his way on the opposite side of the street through town. Norma simply silently hoped that the townspeople would go easy on him this time.

When she finally got to the valley, she immediately headed for the house-tent, with some animals greeting her with purrs and chirrups along the way.

Upon reaching the little house-tent, she carefully peered through the window from the sides. _Nobody's home... Perfect._

She tried to get the window open, but it was locked from the inside. She tried the other one; locked as well. She stood by the doorway, pondering over smashing the window with a rock. Until one of the animals, the small baby barbaloot that would always warm up to her, started calling her attention and pointed at the door.

She looked down and smiled at it, replying in a soft voice, "Oh honey, I know how a door works, but it's most likely locked-" but to her surprise when she turned the doorknob, it was open.

She slightly opened the door and slowly peered inside, then proceeded to kick the door wide open, surprising the animals that watched her.

She looked over her shoulder with a smile and said, "Just in case anyone was hiding behind the door!"

The feisty redhead then took a step inside, observing the house's interior, her footsteps slow and quiet as the other animals followed her in a similar fashion. She felt like some secret agent, honestly.

She snooped around and rummaged through the shelves and drawers and dressers, looking for some blueprints or plans of sorts that could potentially mean a danger to the forest. But all she found were everyday things like clothes and some knitting stuff. _Hunh. Weird._ She thought, _what would they need this stuff for?_

And strangely enough, she saw no signs of the harvested tufts either.

When she saw that there was only one bed in the entire household, she felt a surge of hope run through her. _It's just one guy, probably a scout for their stinky company; I can easily make them leave!_

Just then, she saw a shadow of something peering by the window behind her, but as she looked back, it was gone. _Hunh. Probably one of the barbaloots... Didn't look like a person..._

And so she dug around the house some more, keeping an eye and ear out for anyone who might be coming in other than the animals.

When it seemed as though she had already searched every nook and cranny there was, she decided to take a peek inside the fridge... just in case they hid it there for safekeeping. But as she opened it up, she saw nothing but a bunch of cooking ingredients like eggs, butter, flour... And then the bottom compartment was filled to the brim with numerous large packs of marshmallows.

She snatched one bag and glowered down at the unbelievable amount of this stuff in the guy's fridge. It practically comprised like half of what they got in there.

When she returned to town, she immediately went straight to Carmen's house, shoving an extra large pack of marshmallows to her friend's face when she got out to meet her.

"Look at this stuff, Carmen! They got like a fridge half-full with this crap!" Norma exclaimed, hopping and sitting atop the fence post.

Carmen instinctively swiped away the bag Norma held in front of her, but then her eyes grew wide when she heard what Norma had said, "You _stole_ this?!"

Norma then proceeded to take out a couple smaller packs from behind her back and replied in a deadpan tone, one eyebrow raised in a sassy manner, "Carmen, they got like _half_ the fridge full with just this junk; I wish I was exaggerating, but I'd highly doubt they'd miss it,"

"Oh my _God,_ Norma, _that's felony!"_ Carmen cried out with a pale face, clutching her hair for a few moments, then quickly snatching one of the smaller bags from Norma's hand, returning to her usual clinical demeanor, "They got a fridge half-full of this stuff? Are you serious? Do they live off junk food or something?"

"The guy's probably junk himself, anyway," Norma remarked with a small, snarky grin.

"Pfsht, so wait - it's just _one_ guy?" Carmen asked as she leaned against the fence just next to Norma.

"Well yeah, I checked the entire house - there was like, only one bed and pretty much some other regular house stuff," she replied, turning the small pack of mallows over; the larger one sitting on her lap.

"Hunh,"

"Oh, and some knitting supplies,"

Carmen cocked her head towards Norma with narrowed eyes, "... _Knitting supplies_...?"

Norma just grimaced and gave her a shrug.

Carmen retained that look on her face, slowly blinked twice, and then decided to just shake it off, "Okaay... what else did you find? And how'd you get in for that matter? _Please tell me you didn't break a window,_ "

Norma started opening the pack she held and took a piece, "Ow relaksh, the door wash unwocked so I went in quietwy,"

"The door was unlocked?"

Norma simply gave a nod and stuffed another piece into her mouth.

Carmen leaned back farther, more relaxed this time and said, "Well then this should be easy; we're probably just dealing with some lonely middle-aged lady sent by her 'Once Were' knitting club or whatever,"

Norma chuckled and held out the marshmallow pack towards Carmen, the latter giving in to the offer, and they both ended up eating the two smaller packs of mallows, more complacent with their little lumberjack situation.

* * *

Monday came the day after, and Norma got busy in attending to her flower shop once again. It would usually just be a slow day, just like any other day, save for some special occasions like parties, anniversaries, weddings and the like. Though on normal days, the customers would still come by anyway, and the regulars would come to just look at the flowers usually. But when they find a pretty flower or bouquet that happened to tickle their fancy, they end up spending their money unplanned and on the spot. Well how could they not, honestly? Each flower was tended with tender love and care from the florist herself.

But in digression of that, today was an even slower day than usual. Which was actually fine for the redheaded florist, as she had plenty of time to arrange as many of her well-known bouquets as she could. Or at least, fit into her display case, which was that large white empty rack that you would first see upon entering the door.

It felt like it would've been another uneventful day, that is until, when she went out to check her flowers outside her shop, that she saw a familiar face, and the latter upon seeing her, stared back at her with a recognizing smile.

"O-Oh, hi!"

Norma smiled back at him, "Hi!"

But her smile slowly shifted as she observed that the young man was covered in fresh tomato stains.

"Oh no, not again..." she uttered softly.

To which the young man immediately piped up and said to her, "Oh what, this? Pfbbt, don't worry about it; this is just," he paused, looking down on himself, "This is just some... town initiation thing, don'cha think?"

Norma stared back at him with a skeptically amused grin.

"What I mean is-the town'll just slowly get used to me; and that means, _I_ just gotta get slowly used to _this,_ first, right?" he finished, pointing a finger gun.

Norma just giggled softly and eyed him with a sympathetic smile, "Well, I still think you should go clean yourself up,"

"Well, yeah, but my place is kinda a bit far from here and I ain't actually done with some stuff yet-" the young man explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, yoouu could... clean yourself up at my place?"

The young man stopped and looked at her with a fairly surprised pout.

"Okay, well, not exactly _my_ place, but, just my shop," Norma clarified, pointing to her shop's door with her thumb.

"Oh! Well... thanks! That'd be really nice of you,"

"Well then come on in," Norma said as she led them to the doorway, opening up the door for her exceptionally tall friend, whom of which actually had to stoop his head a bit lower so he wouldn't hit the door frame.

Norma observed this and told him jokingly, "Sorry, I never expected giants to come by my little shop, let alone see it,"

"Ha-ha," he said, rolling his eyes and taking off his fedora as he took in the new surroundings.

Norma left him for a bit to get a clean handkerchief and dampen it on some water. And when she came back, she found the tall "giant" staring at her flower arrangements with his mouth ajar, looking completely mesmerized.

She giggled, "What are you doing?"

"Wha?" the young man mumbled, turning to her.

"What, never seen any flowers before?"

"Uh, well no, but," he stuttered for a moment, "Did you make these?" he then asked with wonder in his voice, similar to how a little boy would sound when discovering something new.

"What, the bouquets? Well yeah, I'm the one who arranged them, why?" she replied, walking closer to the young man.

To which the latter stared at her with a sincere expression, one mixed with amazement and admiration, "They're beautiful," he told her slowly.

This instantly earned a wide grin from the little shopkeeper, "Thank you..."

"No I mean, like, they're _really beautiful._ Not just in the way you arrange them, it's like; the flowers are all so colorful and vibrant and just-so full of life! But yes, the way you arrange them too, it's like... magical in a way! They're just so astounding to look at, it's incredible!" he explained to her with cheery excitement.

By now, Norma's cheeks were a bright, flushed pink. She couldn't offer any rebuttal other than a sheepish, overly-flattered grin spread across her face.

"You must make a decent fortune out of these, huh? How much do you charge for these floral masterpieces of yours?" the young man asked.

"H-Hm? Oh! Well, I wouldn't say a fortune; just enough to put food on the table and what-not," she replied, trying to shake off the butterflies that have made it past her stomach and up to her chest.

"For real? How much are they worth?"

"Fifteen pence for one bouquet,"

"Fifteen pence?!" the young man repeated loudly in shock, jumping back, "Just fifteen pence for your works of art!?"

"Well, yeah!" Norma chuckled, not quite sure where this is getting at. She was fairly used to people being surprised at her homemade bouquets' low price, but this young man right here was the first to be so... well, persistent in way, about his querying.

The young man stared at her with a torn look on his face, "But don't you think that they're worth so much _more_ than that? Maybe around... fifteen _bucks_ at least?"

She smiled genuinely again, and handed him the now semi-dry handkerchief to clean himself up. Then she walked up to her displays, replying, "Well, I want the prices for my bouquets to be as low enough so that anyone can afford them,"

She paused, gently taking one of the bouquets and held it in her hand, fixing the arrangement a bit, "Adults with little money, teens or kids needing to save up on their allowance to buy stuff," she continued, looking up at the young man this time, "I just want people to have their days get brightened up, even a little, with things as simple as just these flowers,"

Both of their gazes then darted to the serene flowers in front of them.

"So since these bouquets are so cheap price-wise, I pour out all the love and effort I can give into making them, since they're pretty affordable for just about anybody; that way, they're actually worth a lot more when you're speaking of quality, and, y'know, so long as I know I make people happy, I'm perfectly fine with selling my bouquets for just fifteen pence," she finished, returning the bouquet to its place.

"Wow..." the young man muttered under his breath.

"Of course, everything else in this shop aside from that is priced normally," Norma added somewhat slyly.

"Heh, well that's good," the young man commented, finally remembering to wipe off the tomato stains off of him.

Norma then noted the same thick pink scarf that was wrapped around his neck, "And... would you like to tell _me_ about _your_ own little creation there?" she asked, leaning slightly sideways towards him, gesturing towards his neck accessory, "I don't think I ever got to ask about that, haven't I?"

The young man raised his head a little higher, and a proud little smile slowly spread across his face as he cleared his throat and started talking in a suave, salesman-like manner, "Well little missy, ever dreamt of a product that could do the job and the role of a thousand?"

Norma chuckled and replied in an innocently innocuous tone, "No sir, I'm afraid I haven't!"

"Well!" the young entrepreneur declared, unwrapping the thick pink scarf from his neck in a quick swoop and laid it out to his side, "Introducing - the Thneed, a marvelous invention-made by yours truly," he paused, waggling an eyebrow, "That can be used for just about anything!"

"A bag! A pillow! A little hanging shelf! A sweater and even a cape!" he said as he demonstrated on folding and unfolding the thneed in various ways that made it surprisingly fit for just the kind of job that he'd say it could be used for.

Norma couldn't help but giggle amusedly at this little display, then the young man started wrapping up his thneed onto her hair while saying, "It even serves as a comfy lil' hat!" making Norma giggle even more and started clapping for him. She then felt him gently pull it off from her, returning the thneed back to its unfolded state. And as he did, she caught a whiff of a familiar scent linger in the air for a brief moment.

It made her heart drop for some reason, as she felt like it was a very important and all too familiar scent, but she couldn't quite place on what it was because it felt... out of place to be found here. She would've given it further thought had not the young man called her attention.

"Well? Whaddya think?" he asked her with a beaming smile, his thneed back on his neck as a scarf.

Norma shook her head quickly and turned to him with a bright smile, "I think it's an _amazing_ product!"

"Really?" he gasped in a pure joyful expression, " _Finally_ , someone-!"

Just then, the door chime rang, signaling a customer, to which Norma quickly went back behind her counter to assist them, telling her guest that she'd be right back with him. The young man then went on with trying to get the stains off his clothes, with Norma piping up that he should just ask if he needed some more water.

"Nah, I'm good, thanks,"

The customer squinted their eyes at Norma's visitor, leaning forward towards her and side-whispering, "Isn't he that weirdo that sings at the town plaza trying to sell his junk?"

Norma rebuked them, whispering back, "Don't be like that! He's actually just a nice guy trying to make a little living!"

"Pfsht, whatever, don't get too cozy around 'im, Norma,"

"C'mon, his thneed is actually really cool!"

The young man listened in on their conversation, silently grateful for his newfound friend's efforts in defending him, and even supporting his little invention!

"Pfft whaat? I doubt it. It looks weird and awful,"

He then found himself staring at the wall of bouquets once more. And just then; a little idea pops into his mind. He then started to choose among the prettiest bouquets - which was quite difficult for him, considering that all of them were beautiful.

Then as he heard the door chime and close, he finally got to pick one out, and approached the small redhead on her counter.

"Hey,"

Norma glanced towards him in response, "Yes, what is it?" she asked eagerly.

"I'd like to buy one of your lovely bouquets; it's... for a someone special," he replied, placing the bouquet of red roses, geraniums, hyacinths, and pansies over the counter.

"O-Oh!" Norma's voice seemed to drop, "Well they must be very lucky,"

"I'd like to put a name card on it too,"

"Of course," she said stiffly, keeping her head low, "The name cards are free, by the way, with each bouquet purchased, so..."

The young man handed her fifteen pence, and she took it rather quickly.

"Here's your name card, thanks for your purchase," she said blandly as she handed him the card.

 _God,_ why was she so down in the dumps?

"Come again soon," she said, still not looking up at the boy.

"Actually... Miss?" the young man called out to her.

She was reluctant to look at him eye-to-eye, but she managed to muster up a fake smile and reply, just like a good shopkeeper would, "Yes, sir?"

And she was met with those deep blue eyes, shining in a brilliant color, and this small, tender, yet somehow playful smile, "I actually need your name written over here,"

Norma was taken aback slightly, confused by this sudden prompt, until she looked down to where the young man was pointing - on the name card that she gave, his fingertip positioned on the printed words that said "To: "

She had to hold in a ridiculous squeal wishing to tear out of her mouth, but she had to remain cool. Oh gosh. He was flirting! Is. _He is flirting with you present tense_. Naturally, flirting right back with an adorable young man such as him would be the most logical thing to do, right?

She looked back up at the other and told him in a slow, vivacious voice, "Well aren't you full of surprises,"

She then slid the name card towards her and wrote "Norma" in a pretty cursive, drawing a small heart at the end of the "a" and then sliding it back to the young man.

"...Norma," he read aloud, a smile creeping on his face as he did.

She then handed him her pen, and he scribbled down his own name before returning the pen to her, and then handing her the bouquet, saying, "Well Norma, it's been really great meeting you; and this may seem pretty ridiculous, but, I personally think the beauty of your bouquets are the only ones adequate enough to show you my gratitude for all your kindness,"

Norma was giggling like a schoolgirl inside, but there was nothing she could do to hide her blush and silly smile.

She took the bouquet from his hand and peered at the name tag.

She stopped dead for a moment, before looking up to face the young man again, looking at him like he was the sun.

And... that's... not in the romantic way. As in the literal way you would look at the sun; irritated and wanting to fight it for being a nuisance.

"You're the Once-ler!?"

* * *

 _"Oh my God, please tell me you smacked him, Grammy,"_

Grammy Norma got a good laugh at her grandson's comment, "Oh Tedster, I wasn't able to; _but I sure wish I did,"_

* * *

The young man's, well, Once-ler's, smile dropped when he saw the little lady's reaction. He started looking slightly anxious and pretty darn confused, "Well... yes, why?"

'Why?' Oh _boy_ , did the urge to just smack this man and yell at him for what he did build up quickly in her chest. She could shoo him away, just this easily. It would break his spirits and force himself to find another town, another place that was far away from here and never go back. It was the perfect opportunity, and Norma clenched her fists tightly, biting her lower lip and just ready to lash out and fight for the sake of the valley she so loved.

She faced the young man eye-to-eye with all that fury in her dark brown eyes...

...And yet...

She couldn't.

She now faced this young man, seemingly cringing and awfully uneasy with her reaction. He flinched under-or, well, over-her glare, and he looked exactly like a small boy, scared and confused about whatever it is that he could have done wrong.

Her tight grip started to loosen involuntarily, and she felt a conflicting weight in her chest. She started to frown.

In her frustration, she lifted up her fist shakingly in the the air for a brief moment, before slamming it down on her counter, her head following soon after as she groaned loudly, still clutching the bouquet in her other hand.

"N... Norma...?" this Once-ler person said in a nervous tone, calling out to her and leaning a bit forward, irritating the little shopkeeper even more.

Her head shot up from her desk immediately and glared at him with pursed lips, seeing the young man looking like a pouting child. To which she covered her face with both hands and exclaimed, "Why are you so adorable!?" in muffled groaning.

Once-ler raised a brow and leaned in a bit closer, "What?"

"Nothing!" she exclaimed louder and in an angrier tone, slamming her head onto her counter again, running her hands through her hair.

Her tall "friend" stood there in awkward silence, his shoulders raised in unease from the sudden outbursts, unsure of what to do, or what else is there to try and do anyway. Just then, Norma raised her head a tad, and immediately had her eyes set on Once-ler's thneed. Her eyes then widened as she hastily yanked the thneed closer to her, eyeing it intensely and feeling it with her fingers... _It was softer than silk_...

"H-Hey!" Once-ler blurted out in surprise, and just more puzzlement in general. But Norma paid him no heed and drew the thneed to her mouth, taking in a deep breath... _And it had the scent of butterfly milk_...

"Oh my God..." she muttered under her breath in a high-pitched tone and let go of her grip on the thneed, retreating back into her seat behind the counter, covering her entire face with her hands, "That explains the knitting supplies..." she added in a muffled croak.

"Wait, what?" Once-ler asked uneasily.

Norma's eyes then peered out from her hands, darting side to side. She breathed in deeply and rubbed her cheeks before turning to face her Supposed Target in front of her, "You..." she paused, speaking in a softer, but mostly exasperated voice, "Your name's Once-ler...?"

The young man fixed himself up and replied with a rueful smile, "Well... yeah... I'm surprised you've heard of it?"

"W-Well..."

Just then, the door chimed again, and both of them shot their stares towards a now surprised-yet somehow still bored-looking-Carmen by the door, staring back at the both of them.

"Carmen!" Norma gasped, to which Carmen only gave her a two-finger salute in rebuttal, then turned on her heel and went right out.

"Carmen! No!" the short redhead jumped across over her counter and chased her out the door, quickly grabbing her friend by the arm, "Where are you going!? I need you!"

Her blonde friend simply replied while rolling her eyes, "Pbbbt, come on Norma, I'm sure as hell you don't need any flirting advice from _me_ ,"

Norma's cheeks flushed a good amount of red as she tried to explain the situation, "No! It's not _that!_ He's..."

Carmen raised a brow.

"...The Once-ler..."

To which Carmen started glaring daggers at the lone person inside Norma's flower shop, pulling her sleeves up, "Alright, _let me at this asshole,"_ But Norma held her back by the arm, or you could say she tried to as she slowly skid on her feet.

"Wait!"

"What? Let's just beat his ass out of here already and our problems will be solved!" Carmen exclaimed, staring back at Norma with raging determination in her eyes. But her stare softened as she saw her smaller friend's flushed cheeks.

"Oh no." Carmen said as her body loosened up.

Norma looked back at her, starting to look a bit guilty as she let go of her arm, but still trying to deny it, "Oh no what?" she said as her eyes darted from side to side.

Carmen bent to her knees to meet eye levels with Norma, glaring at her with narrowed eyes. There was a good awkward silence between them for a while, with Norma refusing to stare back at her directly. Of course, her cheeks were still pinkish in color.

"What kind of flirting did you even _do!?"_ Carmen finally asked.

"I-I don't know!" Norma replied, raising her hands up in the air, "It's just-we _talked,_ and then...!"

"And then!?"

"W-Well!" Norma stuttered, twirling her hands around, still not having it in her to look Carmen directly in the eye, even more so as the color in her cheeks just got redder again, "I found out that he's-he's actually a pretty nice guy!"

Carmen groaned and raised her face to the air, facepalming before turning back to her friend, "Norma, seriously!? Of all the men you could've grown a crush on!? And it was the guy that treated you like an asshole at first sight? Really?"

Norma let out her own pained groan before replying, "I _know!"_ then buried her face in her hands, her composure overall shrinking, "But... it's not just that... it's..."

Her friend took in a deep breath to calm herself down before speaking, "What?" She wanted to sound as open as she could, but it ended up sounding like another one of her signature apathetic what's, though Norma appreciated her effort anyway.

"He's... I don't wanna crush his spirit, his dreams..." Norma finally managed to say, still pretty flustered about admitting it.

Carmen raised a brow, "His dreams?"

"He... he just has high hopes for his own invention, y'know? I mean-Okay I haven't forgotten that his thneed is made out of-"

"Thewhat?"

Norma paused upon Carmen's interruption to clarify in a deadpan expression, "His product's called the thneed,"

"Oh."

"Augh, anyway!" Norma groans, returning to her distressed state, "I haven't forgotten that his thneed's made out of the tufts, but at the same time I can't just be mean to him and bring him down, y'know?! That's too cruel..."

Carmen let out a long, loud sigh, facepalming again. There was silence between the two before she spoke up again, "So what's the plan now?"

"The plan?" Norma echoed, somewhat surprised by Carmen trying her best to go along with this, "Well... his thneed's really not that popular... And no one really has any interest on buying it..."

"Then I guess we're just gonna hope it stays that way," Carmen continued for her.

Norma looked pretty surprised, but she had to admit it herself that there wouldn't be any other way; if his thneed never takes off, then he'd have no reason to cut down any of the trees. "Yeah, you're right," she finally says, looking slightly forlorn, running a hand through her hair.

"Or at least keep it that way, if it gets right down to it," the tall blonde girl added in a low voice, side-glancing at the supposed "enemy" inside of her friend's shop, gawking at the flower displays like a lost boy in the toy aisle.

Norma followed her stare as well, giggling a bit at the sheer innocence of the seemingly childish young man. "Yeah... I'll be right back, alright?" she told Carmen as she went back into her shop.

"Hey! Sorry about that..." was all that Carmen could hear before her small little friend dispersed back into her shop, conversing with the much taller young man before her. They looked like a happy pair of dorks.

* * *

 _"So you didn't get mad at Mister Once-ler anymore?"_

"Well, no." Grammy Norma replied, "After about a couple seconds, I remembered to get mad at him again," she added with a good chuckle.

Audrey snickered slightly herself and asked, "What did you tell him?"

"As an explanation to why I got so angry? Well... simply put I told him about the cut-down tree that we saw and originally vowed to kick the person out of town responsible," Grammy explained casually.

"Oh." Audrey and Ted practically said in unison, earning another good chortle from the oh-so playful grandma.

"Well... how did gramps take it?" Ted inquired.

"Pretty much the exact same reaction as you kiddos; though I told him afterward that we'll just be keeping him under probation,"

"And how did he take that?" said a Brooklyn-accented voice from the top of the stairs, making everyone in the living room look up towards its direction. Scaring the daylights out of all of them, basically.

"M-Mom!" "Helen!" both grandmother and grandson said in unison, the latter looking _slightly_ terrified.

"Howdy," Helen said in a rueful manner. She was sitting on the steps, and had her chin cupped to her hand as she leaned against the wall. "So nice of y'all to finally acknowledge my presence," she added in a monotonously sarcastic tone.

"Honey, how long have you been there?" Grammy questioned her sounding surprised, but also impressed.

"A while," Helen simply answered, the corner of her mouth quirked up. After which no one spoke for a good awkward moment.

"How come you've never told this version of the story before?" she then added rather coldly.

"Well I wouldn't think you'd be interested with me telling you a story about how I was flirting over some guy I tell you about during your bedtime stories now, would you?" her mother shot back easily.

Helen simply hummed, pursing her lips. She then stood up from her place and started making her way down the stairs while saying, "Alright, whatever the case, it's getting late; think you could continue your story tomorrow maybe?"

"A-Aww..." Audrey murmured softly.

Helen turned to her and chuckled slightly, "You can always come by tomorrow, sweetie," she told the redhead, smiling again, as she got up from her seat, "Now off you go, your mom's gonna get worried,"

After Audrey left and Ted finally managed to apologize properly to Helen before going up to his room, Helen sat down with her mother across the living room, giving her an impatient look.

"Is there anything you'd like to say to me now, Mom?" she asked, crossing her legs and raising a brow in a proud-looking manner.

Grammy Norma simply gave her a drowsy smile before replying, _"Well..."_


	4. Snail Mail

Ted woke up today on the righter side of bed this morning. He didn't feel too haggard or begging for five more minutes (actually hours) like usual, and he actually wasn't as grumpy as old man Once-ler when the alarm woke him up. It felt nice.

He changed from his pajamas to his regular clothes and started his way down the stairs, yawning and stretching his arms up along the way.

He then saw his mom hunched over the table, looking as though she was sleeping. He slowly went up next to her and called out to her softly, about to tap her lightly on the shoulder, "Mom...?"

But as he was just about to touch her, Helen pretty much just suddenly jolted up awake with a surprised shriek. Cue both mother and son screaming.

"Mom, what the heck!?" Ted exclaimed, jumped back from shock as he gave his mother a weird look, observing that she held her usual mug in her hands, but that there was a large pitcher next to her on the table. The woman herself didn't look very pleasant either; her curls were a _mess_ and her eyes look _extremely_ tired.

The boy then narrowed his eyes and asked her slowly, "Mom, are you okay?"

Helen let out a deep sigh, covering her eyes, "I'm fine!" she replied stiffly, "Just... peachy!" before pouring herself another round of orange juice.

Ted opened his mouth, about to say something else, until he felt something yank him on the neck, causing the boy to yelp instead. It was Grammy and her cane. She pulled the boy close to her and whispered in his ear, "I'd leave your mom alone for some time if I were you, Tedster,"

The young boy gave his Grammy another one of his weird looks before trying to utter a reply, "But what happ-"

"Shh," Grammy interrupted, handing him an envelope of sorts, "Just get this to old Once-ler, will you dearie?"

"Wha? But?" Ted stammered as he took the envelope in his hands absentmindedly, his grandmother gently pushing him towards the door, "Grammy, wait-" then interrupted yet again by her, chucking a piece of toasted bread into his mouth, making the boy even more puzzled.

"Here, just eat on your way to his lerkim; I even made an extra piece in case you see Audrey!" Grammy told him as she handed him a lunchbag, with Ted only being able to reply in confused garbled noises.

He then finally got to hold the bread with one free hand, and spoke with a mouthful, "But Grammy...!" but before he could even ask for further questions, his Grammy interrupted him yet again.

"Thaank you dearie! Take care now!" then proceeded to almost slam the door shut on him.

Ted stood there for a good minute, just grimacing in complete puzzlement before deciding to just shrug it off, sighing internally. " _What is wrong with everybody today?_ " he thought, the poor boy.

* * *

"She really did that?" Audrey asked bemusedly as she and Ted rode on his scooter, zipping out of town and into the valley.

"Yeah, they were both acting weird," Ted replied, not really knowing what else was there to say after he relayed today's morning events with Audrey, "Let's just get this letter delivered so we can go back home and ask Grammy for some more info or whatever,"

"Alright, sounds like a plan," Audrey agreed.

When they arrived in front of the Once-ler's lerkim, Ted immediately approached the door, but sighed loudly as he hoped gramps wouldn't just shoo them off again like yesterday. Or throw an even bigger pie trap at his face.

When Audrey got up behind Ted, the latter finally took in a deep breath and started calling out loudly to their old friend, a bit too scared to knock on the door, "Hey graaaamps!" He then started waving the envelope about, "I, uh, kinda got a letter for ya! Hey gramps!"

"Mister Once-ler!" Audrey started calling out too.

"Uh, we're... kinda sorry for uh, weirding you out yesterday, but we just need to give you this letter from my-" Audrey then quickly clasped her hand over Ted's mouth before he could speak any further.

"I... _think_ it's best that we don't let him know who it's from yet," she told him quietly. To which an ever-so-slightly blushing Ted replies with a muffled "oh okay" before Audrey takes her hand back. Just then, they heard the door being unlocked and straightened themselves up, their expressions pretty blank as they really don't know how the Once-ler was going to act towards them today.

The old man opened his door slightly, peering from the rather small gap, "...A letter...?" he said in a doubtful tone, "For me...?"

"Um, well, yeah," Audrey piped up with a benign composure, "Listen, Mister Once-ler, it's okay if you really don't feel like talking with us today, we just _really_ gotta give you this letter," she explained, gesturing towards Ted.

"Uh... yeah, it also might be important so..." Ted said as he handed out the envelope to the Once-ler, whom of which opened his door a little wider, somewhat cautiously taking the letter from the boy's hand with a questioning look on his face.

"Well who is this even from, son?" the old man inquired as he inspected the envelope, finding no other details such as a name or address written on it.

"D-uh, I- Um..." Ted stammered as he nervously glanced back at Audrey, whom of which quickly caught on Ted's signal for help and she immediately swooped in to help save face.

"We, um... We're actually not quite sure; someone we knew just gave it to Ted and asked if he could deliver it to you and, well... that was that!"

The Once-ler merely raised a bushy brow at them in a deadpan manner, "Really?"

"Please, gramps, can you just zip it and read the letter for all of us, maybe?" Ted replied in a somewhat irritated, but mostly tired and begging tone.

The old man rolled his eyes and began opening the letter, "Alright, alright...!"

The two kids waited quietly as the Once-ler unfolded the letter inside the envelope, spreading it out and straightening it with his hand, "Let me take a quick look first if there's any signature of sorts or..." then he paused, his eyes wide and affixed to the end of the paper. He didn't even look like he was breathing anymore either.

Audrey and Ted both looked at each other worriedly.

"U-Uh, gramps...?" Ted called out, slowly approaching the old man, "Are you-" _SLAM!_

And just like that, Ted had his face shut out with a door for the second time this morning. Both by two elderly at that.

The young boy took in a short breath and shouted, "GRAMPS!" After which he pressed his lips together in a comical frown.

Audrey went to comfort the poor boy, patting him on the shoulder, "I... _think_ we should be heading home now... give Mister Once-ler some space, don't you think?"

Ted let out another big huff before complying, "Fine," turning around and walking away from the premises, Audrey following him.

"Old people are so weird," he commented ruefully as he and Audrey got on his scooter.

On the opposite side of the door in the meanwhile, was the Once-ler sitting curled up on floor, his back against the door as the letter lay there on the ground. The old man's eyes affixed to the signature at the end of the paper where the name "Norma" was written in the same familiar, pretty cursive.

* * *

When they arrived back home at their doorstep, they found that the door had been locked. And since Ted's Grammy practically just rushed him out the door the minute he got downstairs, the boy didn't have his keys with him; a loud groan escaping from his mouth as he came to that realization.

"Graaammy... we got to deliver the letter alreadyy," Ted called out in a tired tone as he knocked on the door limply, leaning against it with the side of his face, "Let us iiiin..."

Just then, the door quickly swung open. Of course that caused Ted to lose balance and fall flat onto his face onto the floor, Audrey gasping in shock behind him, "Ted!"

"Aah! Ted!" It was Helen, still not looking any better from when her son left, but she looked more alert and awake now after she had to help Ted up. "Are you alright? What were you even doing!?" she asked him as she held his cheek that the floor kissed ever so gracefully.

"I'm fiiine mom, I just... got caught off guard," poor Ted replied grungingly, getting up to his feet, "I wasn't able to get my keys to the house after Grammy sent us off into a mail delivery errand and, well, yeah,"

"A mail delivery? For who?" Helen asked, surprised that her mother still had someone to send letters to.

"For gramps-er, well, Mister Once-ler,"

 _Oh. Right. Him._ Helen thought to herself, now wishing she hadn't asked so she wouldn't have heard that name, and-"Wait what? 'Gramps'? Did... did you _know_ about this the _whole time?"_ she then asked in a quieter tone, but the intensity in her voice was still there.

This of course only made Ted raise a brow, "Know what?"

"Y-Y'know...? The thing about..." Helen muttered, fanning her hand about as she tried to suggest whatever it was she was trying to get across, but not having to actually say it.

"Uh... no?" A beyond confused and clueless Ted replied.

Helen then sighed, covering her eyes, "Y'know, just forget it sweetheart, forget I said anything," She then walked off with a dismissive swipe of her hand, and went back to her seat at the table with her friends the pitcher and the mug, taking in another swig as she let out a somewhat frustrated groan.

"Yikes, what _is_ wrong with your mom...?" Audrey asked Ted quietly as they entered the house.

"I don't think I even wanna know," Ted replied in a quiet tone.

"Heey kiddos!" Grammy Norma called out as she descended from the stairs, Ted filling her in about how he got a door slammed in his face. _Again_. Of course that seemed to have earned a good laugh from the playful grandma. She then apologized for seemingly just rushing Ted outside and kicking him out; explaining that the letter was just pretty important to her. And, well, considering how the Once-ler's reaction was gonna be like what she would expect from him; the sooner they got to give the letter for him to mull over for, the better.

* * *

Afterwards, Grammy made a little snack for them, just some small bite-sized waffles on a plate and a glass of milk for each of them, including Helen, whom of which still refused to join them by the living room table. They all sat quietly for a good while, just eating and exchanging short awkward glances with each other.

Eventually, Audrey had enough of this dead atmosphere looming in the house and decided to finally break the silence, much to everyone's thanks, "So, Grammy Wiggins! Um... me and Ted were kind of hoping if you could..." she paused, side-glancing towards the general direction of where Helen was, "Explain a couple things that happened... if that's alright with you?" To which Ted just nodded in sincere approval of that proposal.

Grammy Norma took a deep breath in, and a deep sigh out, "Well sure, but..." she paused, her mouth twisted and her eyes looking to the side.

"But...?" Ted muttered as he sat slightly uneasy on his chair.

As Grammy was about to speak, Helen suddenly interrupted from her seat, "Hey, umm... Mom? Just a suggestion but, why don'cha try to... um... take it slowly with them, _hm?"_

"Well then how do you suppose I do that?" Grammy shot back.

Helen took a slightly long sip from her mug before replying, "Hey kids?"

Ted seemed to straighten up on his seat as he replied, "Y-Yeah Mom?"

"Why don't y'all um... have Mom continue telling her little story first?" she said in a soft tone, looking down on her mug, "She can tell y'all the... _news_ after you're all done with the story that Audrey dearie came to hear and all,"

The young redhead perked up from her seat as she heard her name and just flashed a goofy smile, "Um... well..."

"Sounds like a plan!" Grammy Norma then perked up herself, "So where did we last leave off from, kiddos?"

"Uhh... I think the part where you and gramps met again in your flower shop and stuff,"

"Oh, right! Well, I suppose things got a bit more awkward between the two of us. Well, three, if you're counting Carmen. I mean I _did_ tell him we were originally gonna kick his butt out of town and all, but so long as he never got to sell his thneed, we were... fairly in good terms," Grammy paused for a bit, the two kiddos getting a good sitting position and some more waffles from the plate.

"I remember hanging onto that card where he wrote his name," she continued with a short chuckle, but looking a little less cheerful, "He drew a smiley face on his 'O' and a little flower at the end of his 'r', can you imagine?"

 _Such a cutesy man being the supposed threat to the forest..._

* * *

"Well look who it is!" the little florist remarked as the tall (and trying) entrepreneur entered through her shop's doorway, "Howzit goin' stud?"

It has been a good week or more now since Norma had discovered that her newly found friend over here was actually the supposed enemy. Either way, she still helped the poor young man get himself cleaned up from time to time, or help him if he ever had some troubles with some other matters.

"Oh, well... you know..." the Once-ler paused as he wiped off some tomato bits from his face, "...the usual..."

Norma sighed as she looked at the young man with a somewhat forlorn smile.

"Here, let me," she said as she got off her stool and went to her pantry by the small hallway near the side of her counter.

Once-ler uttered a soft "thanks" and stepped in further. He had been here already a good number of times, but all the bouquets Norma made were all still so beautiful and just awe-inspiring to look at for him. He hardly noticed that he was gawking at them again. Something he did that would always make Norma chuckle in amusement. At least he _figured_ it was out of amusement. And, well, not out of poking fun at him or anything. He hopes. He was never any good at picking up these kind of things.

"Hey hotshot, careful you don't get a fly in your mouth!" he heard Norma call out as she tossed him the wet face towel. He caught it, sure, with those dangly arms of his, though he now had a small blush forming in his face.

The curly redhead got back to her counter, propping herself back up on her stool. The Once-ler, in the meanwhile, approached her from across the counter and told her, "Y'know, you already know my name, don't ya? Even before I handed you that card? So why all the nicknames?"

"Well..." Norma paused, twirling her hair as she thought up of a reply, "I kinda find your name weird, it's awkward for me to say, I guess," she half-lied. She actually thinks his name was unique in a good way; a fun and cute name even. But she still resents how it was the same name that had to be associated with the cut-down truffula tree.

Once-ler simply pouted at her, saying, "Well I'll have you know, I am quite proud of my name's little origin," he said in a prouder tone, leaning a bit forward towards her counter.

"Oh is that so?" Norma replied with a sassier, and somewhat flirtatious manner, leaning in a bit closer as well.

"It _is_ so!" the Once-ler declared with the same proudness, cocking his head to the side, and leaning in closer still, placing his elbow on the counter, "Dad named after a noble knight!"

Norma basically followed suit, " _Really?_ So would that make you 'Sir Once-lerot' or something?" she said in a scoff; the two of them inching closer and closer... "C'mon you dork, what's the _real_ story behind your name?"

"Laugh all you want, lady, but if you don't wanna believe me, then that's fine; it's not my fault if you're not accepting of my honesty!" ...bit by bit with each rebuttal...

"Honesty my ass! Quit being such a..." ...till the tip of their noses were only a small distance from each other, and Norma stopped as she got to gaze real closely at the other's gorgeously deep blue eyes. _They're so lovely to look at... and his freckles... they made him look so endearing..._

And Once-ler? In all honesty it took him a good moment before he realized just how close they actually were, and how that was actually supposed to be awkward. He then quickly pulled himself back, to which Norma retreated back to her stool as well, blushing quite furiously.

Once-ler was looking very flustered himself. Her fierce chocolate-brown eyes, the feel of the warmth of her breath against his skin... They lingered on in his thoughts as he felt his heart make him feel all weird in the chest. _What was he feeling even?_ He wasn't sure whether he liked it or not; it was new to him.

The two parties stayed silent and red in the face for a brief while, with Norma coughing to break the silence, "So... your name's from... a knight?" she said, looking down to the sides.

"Well... yeah, in a way," Once-ler replied in an almost similar fashion while rubbing the back of his neck, "Dad would tell me bedtime stories about a brave and noble knight named 'The Once-ler'; said he named me after him in hopes I'd grow up with the same... y'know, uh, qualities,"

Norma giggled softly, earning a somewhat anxious-looking stare from the other.

"What?" he asked, "What's so funny?"

She ended up giggling again, "Nothing, I just... think that's adorable," she told him with a bright smile, meeting his eyes again.

"O-Oh!" the Once-ler stammered, looking surprised, "Well... I just thought you thought that it was a silly thing..." he admitted to her.

"What? Why would I think that's silly? That's such a cute thing for your dad to do!" Norma told him, to which Once-ler simply chuckled.

"Well... thanks?" he said, running a hand through his hair, not really knowing what else to say.

Just then, the door chimes, and enters the little shopkeeper's blonde best friend, immediately glaring daggers at the young man whom for some reason is Norma's new little crush.

"Oh. It's _you._ " Carmen practically hissed with judgmental disdain, carrying a box of sorts that was for Norma.

"Yeaah, hi..." Once-ler greeted back uneasily. He wasn't sure how to act around her, but he was smart enough to keep his distance. He immediately gave way as Carmen approached the counter and laid the box on the counter-top.

"Well, here's that delivery you ordered; Sai saw me outside and asked me to give it to you instead since he had a lot of deliveries to make," Carmen explained as she leaned against the counter, Norma saying her thanks as she took the box and transferred it behind the bottom of her desk; with Carmen and Once-ler having a bit of a glaring contest when their mutual friend wasn't looking. It was mostly Carmen giving a death glare, while Once-ler was mostly just looking confused and irritated.

"Okay!" Norma exclaimed as she rose back up on her counter, the two breaking off their glares; Carmen simply looking away while Once-ler put on an innocent face. "I'll just sort that stuff out later, thanks Carmen!"

"Sure, girl. If ya need anything else, I'll just be at my place alright?" Carmen replied aloofly as she headed towards the door, but not before giving one last "I got my eye on you" gesture towards poor Once-ler.

"Yeah, yeah, have fun reading your old books and stuff," Norma responded with a soft chuckle, seemingly oblivious to all the heated atmosphere between the other two as her best friend got out of the door.

"Hey..." Once-ler called to her softly once they were alone together again, "I don't think your friend likes me,"

"Who, Carmen?" Norma replied, letting out another chuckle, "She doesn't like _anyone,_ Oncie,"

"Oh, aha-wait, what did you call me?" he said as he just realized what the little shopkeeper called him.

Apparently, Norma came to that realization too as her face started blushing a fair amount of pink, "Oh! Ah, um..." she paused, shrinking in slight embarrassment. Though that only just made Once-ler laugh.

"Hey, it's cool! That's what my family calls me back at home, so I think I prefer that nickname than all your other ones, pfft," he explained with a casual shrug, glancing sideways. At the same time, he caught sight of a lone snail slowly making its way on a leaf on one of Norma's flower pots outside of her shop.

"Uhh, hey, there's..." he muttered, pointing to a little gray snail with a caramel-brown shell.

The redheaded florist followed to where he was pointing, and immediately perked up as she saw the little critter, quite contrary to what you'd actually expect from someone of her profession.

"Herb!" she exclaimed as she rushed off her chair and out the door, then crouching down to where the snail was.

The young man simply looked on curiously from where he stood inside the shop, watching the little lady as she seemed to converse with the little snail. And oddly enough, the snail turned around to face her, like some form of acknowledgement. " _Hunh_. _That's... actually adorable,_ " he thought quietly to himself with a chuckle.

Norma gently picked up the snail by its shell, and placed it on the palm of her hand, carrying it there as she got back to the shop and behind her counter, bringing out a small terrarium of sorts with some leaves and a branch in it. Then carefully placing her little friend down inside.

"So is it like your pet?" Once-ler asked, peering through the terrarium as the gastropod slowly made its way to a bunch of fresh-looking leaves to the side.

"Herb? Yeah, I suppose he is; I see him outside my shop often, always coming back," Norma explained with a smile, lying her head on the counter atop her hands, "So I guess I decided to take him in when I see him so the sun won't bake the poor lil fella!"

"Is that so?" he said, lightly tapping on the side of the terrarium, "Well he _is_ a slow little fella, ain't he?" he added as Herb still looked like he was struggling to get to the leaves.

"Hehe... Yeah..." Norma murmured, then almost instantly perked up as she thought of an idea, "Hey, why don't you try to feed him?"

" _Me?_ " Once-ler exclaimed in surprise, placing a hand on his chest, "Uh, thanks for the offer, but, I don't really-" he tried to say as he took a couple steps back.

"C'mon, it's easy! Just pick him up by his shell!" the redhead instructed as she straightened herself back up on her chair, tugging on Once-ler. To which her taller friend slowly tried to pick Herb up by his shell, but as she noticed Herb wouldn't budge off from his floor, she told Once-ler to just take one of the bigger leaves and let him crawl onto it.

"What? Are you serious?"

"C'mon! That's how you carry a snail if they don't want you to pick them up!"

"Can't I just _tug_ him a lil harder or?"

"NO! That's dangerous!"

A loud groan escaped the young man's mouth as he raised his face to the ceiling in defeat, "Fiine!" He then proceeded to do what Norma told him, letting the little fella crawl onto the leaf. _Slowly_. He cupped his cheek against his free hand as he waited, and when the snail finally got most of itself onto the leaf, he simply gave it a little nudge as gentle as he could, then carefully lifting it out of the terrarium.

"Alright, here he finally is...!" Once-ler declared to Norma with an exasperated look on his face.

"Alright, now try placing him on your palm,"

"What!?" he blurted out, to which Norma just chuckled.

"It's easier to feed 'em like that, trust me," she told him with a proud reassurance.

The Once-ler let out another loud sigh, awkwardly trying to get the snail onto the palm of his hand, earning soft, restrained giggles from Norma.

"Oh, here!" Norma finally offered as she sat on top of her counter, pulling the young man's free, open hand toward her. They were ridiculously much bigger than hers, as Once-ler had come to notice, making him smile at how cute her hands looked compared to his. Though his smile was immediately replaced with a grimaced look of horror as Norma placed Herb onto his hand, causing him to jerk his hand back towards him.

"AAH! GOD! He feels so _weeirrdd!_ Norma! Take him off my hand! Please!" Once-ler exclaimed, practically _begging_ a hysterically laughing Norma as he tried _very_ hard to resist the instinctive urge to shake the slimy snail off his hand. "Normaa...!"

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" the ever-so-playful redhead said through her cheerful laughter, holding her stomach as she rested her head on the counter.

"Okay, not really but pffft," Norma added through chuckles as she tried to calm herself, wiping the tears out of her eyes and finally relieving the beyond squeamish Once-ler of the feel of Herb's viscous underside.

Norma placed Herb back in his terrarium, directly next to his stack of leaves this time, and watched in more roaring laughter as Once-ler desperately rubbed his "contaminated" hand onto his pants several times with an awfully displeased look on his face.

* * *

After some time later-a time _much_ later that the Once-ler wasn't screaming bloody murder with repulsion at his hand; and Norma not losing her shit in the process-the little redhead was smiling with pure amusement as she watched the lanky young man peacefully feed Herb with some fresh lettuce leaves. The snail was perched on top of the edge of its terrarium, so Once-ler was at a safe distance just holding out the leaf for it.

"Okay, I gotta admit; the guy may be a bit icky, but he's actually pretty cute," Once-ler commented after a while.

"Yeah, he is," Norma replied softly in a bit of an absentminded state, staring at the young man and admiring his little freckles and drowsy-looking eyes again.

As much as she would've, or well, _should've_ hated to admit it, but she rather enjoyed his company. Quite a lot, even. He was a fun, dorky, silly man. He was charming in a number of ways that Norma could enumerate, but...

Her eyes then darted again to his thneed. And again, she felt that conflicting weight on her chest. She knows the town just despises him and his thneed, but, _what if?_

What if his neat thneed _does_ end up taking off? It was a nifty little thing, so it might end up happening at some point. How could she possibly convince him to not cut down anymore trees after that happens? She loves the valley, and she loves the trees, the animals... She would do _anything_ to protect it. She would do anything for everything and everyone she loves, but if that were the case, then if she started having deeper feelings for this boy, then...

She sighed internally, asking herself, " _What are you doing, Norma?"_


	5. A Little Mending

"What are you doing?" Norma asked with a giggle, watching the young man with a pink apron in the kitchen, glancing back at her as he flipped a pancake into the air, and then flawlessly catching it right behind his back.

"Well... what does it look like I'm doing?" he replied as soon as he heard the pancake flop back onto the frying pan, internally sighing in relief that he didn't screw up that one on accident.

"Wow, I'm impressed," Norma remarked sincerely as she leaned forward against the opposite side of kitchen island, wearing a light yellow sundress with a watermelon pink jacket over it.

"And well, I dunno... showing off your pancake-flipping skills?" she added, raising a brow at him.

"Excuse you, but I am making y'all pancakes out of the goodness of my heart," Once-ler said as he neatly placed the pancake onto a readied plate. There were actually a lot of plates, each with a good lot of blankets of 'cakes on them already.

It was raining outside; quite the downpour even. A bit of faraway thunder and lightning as well from time to time. That would explain why there were a large number of animals taking shelter and making themselves cozy in the Once-ler's little hut as well.

"Oh boo-hoo you grandma wannabe, are we some part of your charity story now?" Carmen remarked in her usual apathy. Though it had a higher tint of scorn laid about, "If the rain wasn't as bad as it is, I would've _much_ preferred running back to town and accidentally slipping on my ass than finding shelter in here," she added, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes coldly. She was standing straight and stiff in her place, as if not wanting to touch anything within his house other than the floor and the air.

"Gee, thanks, I am soo warmed up by the fact you find my company _so_ uplifting," Once-ler replied with about as much sarcasm, grabbing two plates with his hands; handing one out to Norma, and the other one to the little baby barbaloot who seemed to have taken a similar liking to Once-ler as it did with Norma.

"Pleasure's all mine toothpick," Carmen shot back still. To which Once-ler then shot a pleading pout at Norma, as if to say, _"Please make her stop."_

Norma only giggled at his childish demeanor, patting him lightly on the back as she grabbed a fork from the nearby drawers, then returned back to her place and took a slice out of the pancakes, her eyes perking up as she took a bite. "Mm! Thish ish really good! Hey Carmen, come and taste thish! It'sh sho delicious!" she exclaimed, looking back at a still seemingly unmoving blonde, glaring back at her with her signature stoic expression that by now the redhead could immediately read as a solid " _no_."

Norma just ends up just giving her a rueful frown before turning her attention back to the plate of warm food in front of her, "Suit yourself miss grumpy-pants,"

"Hey, you really like it?" the young man asked as he got back to the opposite side of the counter after he had finished serving the animals their shares and even grabbing a couple stools for him and Norma to sit on. He then grabbed his own fork and his plate of his favorite breakfast meal. Though he obviously eats it at times other than breakfast.

Norma nods accordingly with a little hum, making herself as comfortable as she possibly can on the stiff wooden chair, "My compliments to the chef! I gotta say, I'm pretty jealous though,"

"Jealous?" Once-ler implored, raising a brow.

Norma raised her hand, palm open, chewing and then swallowing her mouthful before replying, "Yeah, like, I don't actually get to cook much; well," she paused, lowering her head, "Not at all really," she added, quieter and quicker.

"What really? How come?" the young man asked, looking more interested and curious. Meanwhile, the rest of the animals inside-mostly barbaloots and swomee swans, and a few humming fishes-took to eating their own shares of food. Some laid about on the floor, some on the shelves, tables...

"I guess I'm just a _very_ crummy cook," Norma replied with a giggle, looking somewhat flustered, "The only aroma you can smell when I'm cooking is probably-no scratch that, _most_ likely, is the scent of something burning. That is to say I pretty much just scorch everything I touch in the kitchen,"

...Carmen was still on her spot of bitterness and salt though. She hated to admit it, but the aroma of the pancakes wafting about the small hut was starting to make her stomach just as sour as her.

Norma's little anecdote seemed to have earned a good laugh from the Once-ler in the meanwhile. "Hey, come on, I'm sure you just need practice!" he said, about to take in another bite till the baby barbaloot from earlier decided to climb up onto Norma's lap for attention. He then giggled and said, "Pipsqueak, what are you doing?"

Carmen decided to sit by the floor against the wall in the background, taking a piece off the pancake from one group of animals' plate with her hand; Norma concurrently putting her plate down onto the countertop and gently cuddling the little barbaloot closer, "Aww, I think he just wants a hug!" to which Pipsqueak purred affectionately in Norma's cradle.

"And 'Pipsqueak' huh? That's such a cute name to give him!" Norma added as she looked up at Once-ler.

"Oh, well, I actually didn't give him that name myse-" Suddenly thunder roared overhead, interrupting their little conversation; everyone in the room jumping from their places and yelping - Norma and Pipsqueak hugging each other tighter; Once-ler holding his tower of pancakes closer; and of course, Carmen just looking a little spooked, the animals surrounding her crowding closer towards her.

After a good moment, Once-ler spoke up to break the silence, "Um... anybody want marshmallows...?"

"Marshmallows?" Norma echoed as a bunch of the other barbaloots started chirruping up from behind her, as well as Pipsqueak.

The Once-ler rose up from his seat and went over to his fridge, rummaging through it as he spoke, "Yeah, apparently everyone here just _loves_ mallows! Almost as much as I do. Can't blame them of course, though I wish they wouldn't just steal the packs off my fridge,"

The redhead felt her heart stop there for a moment, cold sweat forming at the side of her face, hearing Once-ler comment something about how he couldn't _believe_ the animals raided even his fridge.

"Whaddabout you, Norma? You want some though?" Once-ler then asked, eyes still affixed to the fridge.

"Um, no thanks..." a guilty Norma replied, shrinking down on her seat, glaring back at Carmen over her shoulder. Her friend merely stared back at her with a sly, knowing smirk, taking a bite out of the pancake piece she held and said nothing.

The rain seemed to have stopped, but one could still see short flashes of lightning every once in a while.

Norma straightened herself up and tried to play it cool as Once-ler got back on his seat just opposite of her, holding one of the smaller pack of mallows. As he sat down, he perked up a bit as he remembered something.

"O-Oh! Um... Carmen, do you want a-?" or, well, _someone_. But before he could even finish asking, he got a brisk _"no"_ in reply. And that was pretty much the end of that.

He then took a handful of the smaller mallows and dabbed them all over his plate.

Norma giggled, "You really like sweets, huh?"

Once-ler's eyes widened as he glanced back up at Norma, "Who? Me? Well... I suppose I do! But marshmallows and pancakes are just my definite favorites!" he finished, slicing himself another piece and resumed eating.

"Well _obviously,_ " Norma teased, "Just look at _your_ little leaning tower of pancakes over there!" she said as she pointed towards Once-ler's plate with her fork.

"Hey! I love pancakes, y'know? I could eat them for every meal or just by itself without stopping,"

"You'd get fat," Norma told him.

"What? No, why would I get fat?"

"Flour makes you fat. Butter makes you fat. _Pancakes_ make you fat,"

 _"Pancakes make you fat!?"_ the Once-ler exclaimed in dramatic shock and disbelief, earning a good laugh from Norma.

When the sun was finally up again, the animals wasted no time in getting themselves out of the Once-ler's insulated hut and out to frolic in the cool, freshly damp grass. Norma had taken off her jacket, raring to just run around with the animals and burn up all of that pepped-up energy she constantly has. She was just tying up her jacket around her waist when Once-ler offered that she could just hang it over by his little coat rack instead.

"Oh, it's alright! I prefer tying my lil' jacket up like this instead!" Norma declined politely. She then noticed his thneed hanging by the same rack as well and asked, "Hey, um, how's your thneed coming along by the way?"

"Oh, THAT?" Once-ler replied in a somewhat uncaring tone, like there was nothing new to say, "Well... same old, same old... still hated and... all that jazz,"

"Oh..." Norma responded softly in a sad tone.

"But hey! That's what you and Carmen want, right? You should be happy!" the young man added with a smile, but there was heartache evident in his eyes.

"Oh, no worries, noodle lumberjack," Carmen hollered from just outside his hut, "I'm perfectly happy with that fact, truust me," She was right outside his window where they could see her, struggling to get a truffula fruit from one of the trees.

Norma shook her head ruefully and called back Once-ler's attention, the two of them speaking eye-to-eye, "I guess I _should_ be, but... You're my friend, I... I _want_ you to succeed too!" As Norma said this, one could see the young man's blue eyes glisten, his cheeks flushing up a bit as well. And so did Norma's.

"There's that part of me rooting for you all the way, despite everything," she finished, now wearing a goofy yet sincere smile.

It felt nice that she was finally able to come to terms with that. With how deep down, she really genuinely did want the boy to have his dream become a success. Surely there are lots of other alternatives to harvesting the tufts... she would just have to suggest them and even help him when she can...

This boy on the other hand, was, well, elated. To say the least. He had considered Norma a friend for a while now. A good friend. A great friend. Maybe even more than that. But he always felt so anxious about these sort of things. How and if that person actually didn't consider you as the same. Well most especially with their case too. Like, he _was_ the guy initially on their hit list and what-not. And yet this woman right here still wished the best for him...

All he could do right now was to just... smile. That's what all they could do right now. And it didn't feel awkward, no, it felt... just so comforting. The atmosphere around them just felt so safe and serene, yet at the same time Once-ler could just feel his heart beating faster and feeling all weird. He still wasn't sure yet if he liked that feeling or not. It was pretty suffocating. Not like he wasn't used to feeling suffocated; he felt that a lot before with his family, but- this was different this time. He could tell, but he just couldn't figure out exactly _why._

"Hey!" Carmen then suddenly yelled for help, grabbing both their attention. She had still not gotten any luck with the fruits.

"C'mon, Norma! You and I both know that you're pretty much the _only_ person between the two of us who's good at picking these fruits,"

Norma rolls her eyes with a chuckle as she replied, leaning forward against the window frame, "Carmen, you could've just gotten help from, like, the barbaloots or the swommee swans, y'know! Also, we _just_ ate. _How_ are you hungry already!?"

The blonde clicked her mouth as she glared sideways and crossed her arms, "I was craving for something juicy, okay?!" _God dammit._

Eventually, one of the barbaloots did end up grabbing a fruit and giving it to Carmen. Though she only ended up dismissing the offer.

Not long after that, Norma and Once-ler ended up joining Carmen outside, whom of which sat just underneath one of the truffula trees. The young man had his thneed wrapped around his neck as usual, and he approached the blonde with caution just behind Norma. The latter cleared her throat to grab her friend's attention, then shuffled to the side, as if to present or behold the nervous-looking salesman behind her.

Carmen just gave back a contemptuous glare, then shifted her gaze to Norma, "What are you two trying to do?"

Norma then quickly nudged Once-ler with her shoulder, "Hey! Come on, get that sales talk going!" Though Once-ler only replied with short murmurs, glancing back and forth in-between the two girls, standing almost frozen in place.

"Uh, sales talk? What?" Carmen asked, raising a brow.

"Well, I told Oncie that he could go and practice some of his sales talk with you!" Norma explained casually, to which her friend just glared back at her through narrowed eyes. For a many number of reasons.

Carmen actually remained deadly silent for a good moment, as if she was processing everything that was wrong in Norma's statement and wondering whether she should point them out or not.

"Uhh, yeah. _No thanks,_ " In the end, she simply rose to her feet and began to walk off, "I'd rather go home and read a book,"

Norma seemed to be taken aback a little, though that looked like the only push Once-ler's head needed to start getting crafty with his words. He fixed himself up and stood taller and prouder and cleared his throat, whipping out his thneed as Carmen slowly glanced back behind her shoulder, to which he started, using his smooth and suave sales talk voice again, "Why read when you can buy a thneed?" then shooting a finger gun in the blonde's direction, clicking his mouth as he held his thneed with his other hand.

Carmen's mouth was slightly open, but she still wore that look of contempt as before. Though she was glaring at her best friend this time, who seems to be holding in her laughter by the sidelines. A monotonous "Really?" was all she could say.

"Pfft, what?" a giggling Norma replied, "C'mon, Carmen, give his thneed a chance!" she added with a pleading pout, "Pleeaase?"

Carmen let out a loud sigh, facepalming. "...It's not _just_ the thneed..." she hissed quietly, then took a deep breath and looked up towards Once-ler, eyeing him clinically before she spoke, "It looks absolutely _hideous_ , so you'd better do a good job of trying to convince me,"

The young man could feel the cold nervous sweat starting to drip from the side of his face, but he mustn't let some death glare faze him! He should be used to those kind of things by now. Plus, this one wasn't actually trying to bull's eye a tomato or two at his face...

"So," the callous blonde said as she crossed her arms, leaning back against the tree behind her, "Show me what ya got,"

The Once-ler gulped as the tension rose in the atmosphere. As if he didn't have enough reason to be intimidated by this woman already. He looked back at Norma over his shoulder, the little ray of sunshine giving him a bright smile and a two thumbs up. Once-ler gave her a small smile back and took a deep breath, regaining his hotshot salesman composure again, turning to face Carmen.

"Ever imagined one little invention that could do the job of a thousand?" he began.

"No." was Carmen's quick, stern reply.

His face dropped for a brief moment at Carmen's ever-so enthusiastic cooperation, but he pushed onwards, "Well then missy, prepare to have your bland little imagination colored by seeing just that!" ...with a lowkey hint of shade.

He spread out his thneed neatly hanging by his arm and continued, "Voilà! Introducing, the Thneed - a fine something that all people need!"

Carmen opened her mouth as if to say something, but she got interrupted by her little friend clapping from the sidelines. What came out was a sigh instead. That little applause seemed to be enough for the young entrepreneur though, and he pushed on, a bit cheerier and less terrified now.

"So you like reading books, you say? Well, then I'd be more than glad to let you know that _this_..." he paused, quickly fiddling and twirling the thneed till it had the shape of a hammock with holes in it, then held it across his lengthy arms, "...Would just be perfect for a makeshift bookshelf! Now you can place your beloved books comfortably in any space you want, no moving of heavy bookshelves required!" he finished quite proudly, especially since he basically just conjured up all of that in his head on the spot.

Norma and a bunch of the other animals cooed in delight from the sides, though the actual audience didn't seem too impressed. Carmen pretty much still had that deadpan look on her face. The only slight difference being her eyebrow was raised and her lips were ever-so-slightly quirked up a little bit. _She honestly didn't know how to react to that._

Some small parts of her felt somehow impressed, plus she actually really liked the idea of having a convenient storage shelf for her books like that...

The rest of her though? They say to still keep up the icy defenses. That is to say, a majority of her being doesn't want to accept the presence of this boy and anything he does in any way whatsoever still.

Carmen took a deep breath and began her roasting session, "It looks pretty terrible. What if it gets wet? The way that fabric looks doesn't even look ideal for any long-lasting purposes or whatever,"

Once-ler kept on perking up and opening his mouth to try to give an answer to each of his "customer's" concerns, but he could hardly even say a single syllable before Carmen raises a new concern after another.

"And a thousand uses? Really now? Did you even get to count them all? _Tested_ them all, for that matter?"

"Well, actually-" Once-ler tried to interject...

"Lying and stretching the truth ain't exactly good business practices now are they, hm? Or, well, at least not yet at first," ...Though it seemed he won't be getting another say in the matter any time soon.

The clinical blonde just won't seem to let up on her storm of salt and fire, still going strong and commenting and picking on every little detail and every little flaw that she could find, dragging the lanky entrepreneur out in the middle of it all.

"Also, the " _thneed_ "? What kind of ridiculous name even is that? It's almost as ridiculous as yours!"

 _Wow, hitting below the belt there._ Once-ler looks back over to his shoulder, grimacing in extreme discomfort as he mouthed the words _"help me"_ towards Norma, all means of urgency prevalent in his face.

The little redhead's initial response was a rueful chuckle, feeling pity for her tall friend getting burnt just as the rain had finally let up. It was quite a comical sight though, really. Once-ler easily towered all of them, even while slouching, yet here he is, probably feeling like the smallest ant in this current situation.

* * *

" _Haha, oh man, that must've been something!"_

Ted commented with a pleased giggle.

"Oh-ho, it certainly was, Tedster! Carmen just had no mercy for him at _all_ ," Grammy chuckled in approval.

"Pft, why did she hate Mister Once-ler so much?" Audrey asked before taking another bite of the mini-waffle she held. The plate was near-empty by now.

"Well honestly, who wouldn't though?" Grammy replied jokingly, which seemed to have made Helen laugh.

"Quite true," Helen chimed in, raising a glass, "Okay but really now, why the hate for him again?"

"Well, Carmen was my best friend, I supposed she was just doing what a protective friend would," Grammy Norma explained slowly, "Especially considering he still had a huge offense on our list and all,"

 _But back then? He really isn't_ _as_ _bad_ _as_ _everyone_ _else_ _made_ _him_ _out_ _to_ _be._

* * *

"Well THAT was terrible," Once-ler thought aloud. He and Norma were walking side by side, just chilling after the storm and what-not.

Norma let out a rueful laugh and said, "No kidding! I've never heard Carmen give out such a... um..."

"Long, detailed, merciless critique?" the young man continued for her as he glanced down towards her, catching her cute hearty laugh.

"Well, on anything, yeah!" Norma replied, running a hand through her hair as she looked back up at the incredibly taller young man, "She was exceptionally bitter that time, and that's saying something!"

"I guess your friend just hates me a whole lot more than anybody else then?" Once-ler asks rhetorically, pretty much accepting of the general hate he's been receiving.

"Aw, well don't think too badly about it!" Norma says, kicking a pebble they've walked across, "I think Carmen's just giving you some sort of special treatment,"

Once-ler's blue eyes follow the pebble that his little friend had kicked forwards, "Special treatment? For what?" he said with a short chuckle, then proceeded to kick the same pebble as soon as his lengthy legs were in range of it.

Norma was quietly surprised by the action at first, but then immediately started walking forward on a bit faster pace to get ahead, "Well, maybe she just felt kinda protective or something, I guess?" she said quickly and aimed for the pebble with her feet once more, accidentally launching it quite farther than normal.

That was when the two exchanged short, blank glances with each other before immediately sprinting towards the pebble at the exact same time. Norma was ahead, but Once-ler's quick, long strides made him easily catch up with the redhead. The latter kicks the pebble just as the other was about to, and the tiny makeshift soccer ball started bouncing its way down a gentle slope. The young man immediately gives chase, with Norma resorting to clinging onto Once-ler's backside to try to trip or slow him down.

"Ack!" Once-ler yelps as he falls face down into the lush grass, spitting out the bitter taste of plant in his mouth as he lifted his face, hearing gleeful laughter fly overhead as Norma jumps over him and runs ahead.

She just about sees the pebble when Once-ler tackles her from behind, wrapping his arms around her and spinning her around before tripping on his own feet, making them roll quite a bit on a small downward slope. Playful laughter from both parties filling the air in the valley, and now they can't even pick themselves up from the ground where they lay since they were both still laughing from the silliness and just innocent fun of it all.

Once-ler opened his eyes as he wiped the tears of laughter away, and he saw that was on eye-to-eye levels with the playful little florist. She was still laughing and tearing up from it as well. His smile and stare don't go away one bit when he just admires her appearance up close. Her curly auburn hair was even more messy and ruffled up, but it just made her seem all the more cuter. He saw those teary dark brown eyes when Norma finally opens them. He remembers seeing those eyes as being normally feisty and just full of energy and vigor, but the way they looked now as she looked back at his sparkly, ocean deep blue eyes, made them shine with soft warmth and tenderness.

The first thing that Norma noticed, aside from those gorgeous eyes looking back at her, was that the young man's freckled cheeks had a tender blush, and she soon realizes that the look he was giving her was the same look that he normally gives when looking at the bouquets she makes that he just so extremely admires. It wasn't long after that that she felt the heat rising up to her face as well.

Norma impulsively retracts her gaze and tosses, now lying on her back. This seemed to have caught Once-ler off guard, and he follows suit himself, the both of them now looking incredibly flustered, hearts fluttering to incredible new heights. They both had silly little grins stuck to their faces that they can't just seem to hide or hold back.

They both stayed like that in peaceful silence for a good while though, watching the clouds roll by across the clear blue sky, just enjoying the presence of one another. It felt wonderful.

When hues of orange started to bleed through the atmosphere, Once-ler and Norma headed back to his "lerkim" as he would call it. The young man explained to her along the way that it's what he would call his little forts and bases when he played as a child, and it just sort of stuck with him. Norma found his still childish innocence immensely adorable.

They arrived to a sleeping Carmen, dozing off with her mouth slightly ajar under the shade of a truffula tree just beside the lerkim, being surrounded by a few other little animals cuddled beside her.

"Well, she doesn't look too menacing when she's sleeping," Once-ler jokingly remarked quietly, to which Norma just giggled and gently slapped him on the side of his arm.

A certain baby barbaloot was there as well, and he slowly woke up to the sound of Norma and Once-ler's voices. Pipsqueak stretched up to sit and yawn, making Norma hold in an "Aww!" to not wake her best friend up abruptly.

She then sat on her toes, softly calling little Pipsqueak as he happily, but still sleepily walked up to her. She then gently swooped him in her arms, giving him a little kiss on the forehead, making the baby barbaloot purr in her loving, motherly embrace.

Now it was the Once-ler's turn to hold in an "Aww!" of his own.

Norma was just about to stand up straight to her feet when a ripping noise tore through the peaceful silence, causing the young woman to squeal and effectively wake Carmen and the other animals, each waking up with their own responsive yelps.

"Norma!? What happened!? Are you hurt!?" Carmen immediately exclaimed in worry, scurrying to her feet towards her friend.

"No, she's fine! We just heard something kind of rip really loudly?" Once-ler replied, coming to Norma's side as well, though Carmen didn't pay any heed towards him.

"Norma, what's wrong!?" came Carmen's rarely worried tone of voice once again, holding her friend by the arm as she put down Pipsqueak, the latter looking quite concerned as well.

The redhead then proceeded to untie the knot from her jacket and then swiftly spread it out in front of them. And boom, there it was. A large tear right through her watermelon pink jacket. The tear went all the way from the back of the middle chest area up to the bottom end of it.

"Oh no... this is my favorite jacket..." Norma said with an exasperated voice, eyeing the tear in her jacket with horror.

"Where the hell could you have snagged that!?" Carmen exclaimed, the intensity of her voice now somewhat returning to normal, though she's still pretty concerned with her friend's jacket of course, not to mention just what on earth could've caused such a tear.

Once-ler looked on with dismay as well, but decided to check the ground to investigate, and lo and behold, there was the culprit.

"It got snagged by this nail..." he said somewhat quietly, but it was enough to grab everyone else's attention.

"A nail?" Carmen echoed as she and Norma turned to him.

Once-ler was on his knee as he picked up a few strands of pink fabric still stuck onto the nail, "Yeah... one of the nails to support the ropes of my house..." he continued, sounding forlorn and somewhat guilty.

Carmen clicked her mouth and practically lashed out again with her words, "See? No good thing's gonna come out of you being here! You're just being a nuisance and a disturbance to the quiet of this valley!"

"Carmen, stop that! None of this is Oncie's fault!" Norma immediately rebuked her, eyes wide with shock more than anything, to which Carmen just groaned and looked away, crossing her arms, but there was still a lace of hostility evident in her eyes.

The young man kept silent for a good moment. He pursed his lips in thought, and felt quite affected with what the brutally honest blonde had said. Norma knelt by his side and placed her hand over his shoulder, telling him that he shouldn't feel bad about her jacket getting torn.

"C'mon, this jacket's really not a big deal!" she said, somehow trying to force a smile.

Once-ler then glanced at the torn jacket she held in her hands. It looked like a fissure in cloth form, and repairing it was gonna be a bit of a hard task. Both tears were already far apart from each other that it might end up just looking bad if you sew them back together again. He looked at Norma in the eyes, took a deep breath, and made his resolve.

"I'll fix it for you," he says, gently grabbing hold of the jacket.

Norma's eyes widen once again, "What? Um, no, it's okay..." she said softly, examining the tear on her jacket, slowly pulling it back to her, "It's-It looks pretty much beyond repair anyways, so-"

"No, I can still work with this!" The young man insisted, his blue eyes glistening, his voice intense but sincere, "Just... let me have a look at it over the weekend, I can find a way to work with it,"

Once-ler then flashed her a small smile, "Please, just trust me; it's the least I could do," he said softly and clearly, looking at her eye-to-eye.

Norma was left speechless at first. She looked back over to her shoulder to where Carmen stood, the latter having a confused and somewhat disgruntled expression on her face. She was just as taken aback as Norma was.

The redhead turned back to face the other, his hand still on the jacket, and he had a pleading yet heartfelt look on his face. It seemed that nothing was going to convince him otherwise to just forget about it all, so Norma finally gave in with a small nod.

"Alright," she said, making the young man's expression brighten up in an instant, "I trust you,"

She let go of her grip on the jacket, and Once-ler held it closer to him, his face practically glowing with excitement, "Thank you! I'm gonna be working on this for a while, I promise you won't regret it!" he said with a tone of voice that sounded like he was trying his best to contain his excitement, though it still showed.

He got up to his feet and helped Norma get up to hers, Carmen simply looked on with a weirded out and somewhat suspicious expression towards the former. She slowly leaned towards Norma and whispered, "What the hell is he being so happy about?"

Norma looked back at her and pouted, silently scolding her friend for thinking up any weird suspicions towards the boy. That was when Once-ler suddenly cleared his throat, looking down and rubbing the back of his neck, wearing a sheepish smile, calling their attention.

"Look it's just..." he began, waving his free hand about as he was trying to process his words and how to put them out without sounding too awkward than he was already being, "Thanks for... y'know, trusting me on this and giving me a chance to fix it... that just- kinda means a whole lot to me, is all," he finished with a goofy grin and slightly flustered cheeks.

Norma clasped her hands together to her chest and was easily melted by the young man's display. Her friend on the other hand simply gave out an exasperated sigh.

Both parties then said their goodbyes shortly after, with Once-ler immediately retreating back into his lerkim as the two women started walking off the opposite direction. Both of them had a little discussion on the Once-ler's quirky behavior, but Norma simply kept justifying them as being what made him, him. Carmen still felt pessimistic about the whole jacket ordeal, and just what kind of "repair" was Once-ler gonna even pull off.

* * *

The following day, rain began to pour in heavy amounts again, so Norma and Carmen just ended up hanging out indoors. Norma still couldn't keep her mind off thinking about Once-ler, which irritated Carmen to some extents since Norma was just unresponsive to her prompts at some times.

"I was just thinking," Norma would say, "Y'know, about why he's just so intent on being trusted to fix stuff or something,"

Carmen would just let out a tired groan as Norma continued, "Or why he feels the need to make up for his mistakes!"

Her friend would just roll around the carpet and reply, "I dunno, why are you always thinking about him?" Causing Norma in turn to blush and pretty much ask the same question to herself.

* * *

The rest of the week was quite uneventful; from Monday up to Thursday afternoon, the town had been quiet and lacking a visit from the performing salesman, much to the relief of some. The others? Well, they pretty much missed having someone to throw tomatoes at. The little florist wished she could check on the boy, but she can't just leave her shop, especially since the customers were coming in more frequently than usual. She wouldn't dare have Carmen check on him just by herself either.

Thursday evening, just as Norma was closing up shop and flipping her shop sign to "closed" at her door, she saw a familiar figure rushing towards her shop's direction. She immediately perks up and opens the door, meeting the cheerful-looking man now standing by her doorstep. His hair was a bit messy, and he seemed to have a bit of a bruise on the left side of his face, though he was still beaming with happiness nonetheless. He also appeared to be carrying a thin box of sorts in his arms.

"H-Hi!" he chirruped, after which his expression shifted for a brief moment as he placed the box behind his back.

"Um, hi!" Norma greeted him back, though she looked a bit less cheerful and more concerned, "What happened to your face?"

"Oh! What, this? This is nothing! Just a little accident, haha! Umm..." he replied quickly and somewhat nervously, carefully placing a hand over his bruised cheek, "Anyway!"

The Once-ler then held out the box towards her, "Here! Uh, sorry it took so long!" he told her with a nervous laugh.

Norma took the box, and when she opened it, she saw her favorite watermelon pink jacket looking as good as new - better even! It was that same color, and you could hardly even see where the tear was! There was now also a light pink frill of sorts that was kinda shaped like a flower on the collar.

"Wow..." was all Norma could gasp in wonder. She held out the jacket and felt it with her fingertips; it had that same texture as before, but it felt like something new had been added to it. It felt much softer than before, and when she held it close to her nose, she could pick up the scent of butterfly milk lingering in it. She got surprised by this, and quite a bit concerned, so she glanced back at Once-ler, whom of which took this as his cue to explain.

"D-Don't worry about any of the trees being cut! I personally harvested the tufts I needed as materials from the trees myself by just climbing them and gathering them as I went!" he reassuringly stated with an understanding smile.

Norma internally sighed in relief at that, but her relief was immediately replaced with concern once more as she got to process his explanation, "You climbed the trees?"

"Um, yeah! I-"

"Did you fall!?" the little redhead immediately followed-up, her eyes affixed to the rather nasty bruise on the young man's cheek.

Once-ler fell silent, and he kept mouthing something incoherent, lightly touching his bruise again. He looked back and forth to the ground and to Norma, whose worried face practically made his heart ache with the weight of a thousand steel bars.

"I... may or may not have hit something, along the way down the tree, at one point..." he finally said, ever so softly that it was barely audible.

He then felt a small, gentle hand touch his cheek. He turned to face Norma, looking quite heartbroken as well in her own right.

She gently caressed his bruise with her thumb, saying, "You didn't have to go through all that trouble for this jacket,"

The young man chuckled sheepishly and replied, holding her hand as his chest started feeling that same kind of weird again, "Well, I wanted to!"

That earned a short chortle from Norma, "Why?"

 _Because it was for you,_ "I just... wanted to make it up to you... for being so kind and everything..."

 _"I did it for you,"_ Wait-did he just say that out loud? _Oh gosh-_ He didn't plan on saying that out loud, _ohh gosh._ His face was now burning a bright red, but nothing could prepare him when he suddenly felt a pair of soft lips gently kiss the bruise on his cheek. And he could swore on that moment that everything just seemed to blur and came to a stop. His heart was beating unbelievably fast, and he was practically grinning from ear to ear.

Norma was blushing furiously herself- _Did I really do that?_ She was hugging the box this precious man had given her; she could hardly look up at him straight, but she could still see the young man's now lovestruck composure. She didn't regret kissing him one bit.

"W-Wow..." the lucky entrepreneur gasped after seemingly holding his breath for forever after being kissed on his cheek. He carefully pressed his fingertips against the spot where she kissed him- _Ow._ The bruise still hurt. Funny, he thought for sure that kiss would've healed it already.

The red-faced redhead couldn't help but giggle at the young man in front of her. Like _honestly_ going out of his way to fix her favorite jacket just for her? She was practically asking herself on what did she ever do to deserve this sweetheart right here.

"Th-thank you, Oncie," she finally began after a long pause, "You're awfully sweet... like really, thank you!" she said, finally finding it in her to smile the brightest smile she could ever muster as she looked back up at those beautiful eyes of blue. Her heart was fluttering like a million butterflies flying all at once. It was a strange yet wonderful feeling.

"But... please don't fall off any trees again, okay?" she added with a chuckle.

"I'll try," was the Once-ler's lighthearted and absentminded reply, still not recovering from the sensation of Norma's lips on his cheek.

"Again, _thank you,_ " Norma says with a grateful, beautiful smile.

"Thank you too," Once-ler replied softly.

Norma then looked down at the box and jacket she held, fixing it up in her arms and then embracing it close to her.

"Hey... it's getting late... you should head back home before it gets too dark," she then told him in a soft, caring tone, "Wouldn't want you getting into another accident!"

"If it means getting a kiss from you again, I wouldn't mind..." Once-ler mumbled under his breath, at which Norma pecks his other cheek, leaving the lanky man in another tomato-faced daze as he seemed to stumble backwards as he waved his goodbye, "Okay, see ya Norma," his heart racing even more as he said that name through his lips. Her name was like music to him now.

The florist waved her own shy goodbye as she looked on at this lanky man, skipping and dancing across the sidewalk, humming a little tune and even spinning himself around a lamp post before continuing on.

When the Once-ler was now out of sight, she finally retreated back into her house. Dreamily sighing aloud and checking the box again. It was then that she noticed that there was actually another jacket inside.

* * *

 _It was a darker fuchsia in color, and had these little light pink frills at the front of the collar._

"For whom was that other jacket for, though?" Audrey asked, raising a brow.

Helen in the meanwhile seemed to have been frozen in place after hearing her mom's description of that jacket.

"Oh, I asked him about it the next day I saw him; he said he actually ended up knitting me an entirely brand new jacket at first! But then he said it didn't feel right, so he still somehow found a way to repair my old one," Grammy Norma explained with pure happiness in her eyes and smile as she reminisced about it, "In the end, he decided to give me both of them,"

Helen clutched the jacket she wore, her favorite jacket that Mom had shown her since she was little. Norma would tell her then to wait till she was big enough to wear the little thing, but she just couldn't seem to wait. Helen wore the jacket anyway even though it was too big for her when she was a little kid. Though on colder days, it felt just cozy enough.

"Aww, that's so sweet of him!" Audrey cooed, making Ted glance at her in a way that he wished she would say the same with him one day.

Helen had always felt so secure and just... warmed up inside her heart whenever she wore that jacket. Even up till now. She could never really explain why exactly, save for the fact that Mom had told her that-

"So the jacket you're wearing right now, that's the same one he made for you?" Audrey asked with excitement.

Grammy Norma simply nodded with a smile, "I always wear this whenever I can,"

"What about the other jacket though?" Ted then asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

That was when they heard someone sniffing, sniffing in a way that they were crying. All three persons in the living room whipped their heads to the source of the sound - it was Helen.

"M-Mom!?" Ted exclaimed in worry, immediately rising from his seat.

Helen hiccuped for a bit, wiping the tears in her eyes before replying in a trembly voice, "I-I'm fine, sweetie," she said with a smile. She was facing away from them from where she sat, though, so her son and Audrey still felt very concerned.

"Mom, are you sure you're-" Ted started walking up to her, but he was stopped by his Grammy gently placing her hand over his shoulder. Ted looked at her, and she looked back with a somehow apologetic smile.

"Why don't you and Audrey go out for a bit?" Grammy Norma tells him softly, "Me and your mom need some private time, alright?"

Ted was taken aback a bit, but after glancing back at Audrey, whom of which nodded an okay, he nods at his Grammy as well, "Okay, Grammy,"

"Thank you, sweetheart," Grammy Norma says as Ted and Audrey walk out the door and shut it quietly.

Grammy Norma approached her daughter, still crying, and asked, "Can I sit next to you, honey?"

Helen simply moved sideways to give her room, not looking back up at her. Grammy Norma took her seat and placed her hand over Helen's back. Tears were about ready to fall from her own eyes as well.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," Grammy Norma tells her in a soft, shaky voice, "I shouldn't've kept these kinds of things from you,"

Helen started sobbing again for a good while, before finally finding it in her to look back at her mom; eyes red and teary, her hands clutching the fabric of her soft, dark fuchsia jacket, though she had the slightest, faintest smile amidst her tears when she spoke, "Was this really from Dad?"


End file.
